Mottak: An African Tale of Immigration and Asylum

Imagine being stranded in the heart of winter in an isolated town at the northern edge of the world. Though born on the continent of Africa political officials have made citizenship and social mobility at home difficult for many youth and young adults to realize. And so some flee to Europe seeking help in Babylon-and are told to wait. And wait. This fictionalized true story brings to life the never-before-published experiences of African asylum-seekers in Norway. With Cliff Congo and a group of other cast members from across the African continent an Eritrean narrator details the almost-existential struggle of life in the Mottak one of the systems all-male dormitories. There every weekday is Monday and every weekend is a chance to escape the oppressive limbo between arrival and citizenship. There the men rarely talk about the past. They dont dare hope for the future. They share but two things in common: they cannot go home and they are waiting.