An interview with Pavel for the MYgration podcast series. Pavel and Evgenii came to the Netherlands in 2018. They fled their home country Russia after threats from the Russian government regarding their gay marriage. After living in Asylum Seeker Centers for 6 months, they received a residence permit and home in Nijmegen. Pavel works as a doctor at a mental health clinic, after completing his entire medical studies in Dutch. Evgenii works as a case manager at a social institution in Nijmegen. Both plan to stay in the Netherlands.

With this collaboration between the non-profit organisations; Wijdoenmee! Initiative, the Haella Fund, Correspondents of the World, and Broadcast Amsterdam aka BRAM RADIO, we want to explore the large spectrum behind the word “migration”, and the personal stories involved.

Guest: Pavel 
Podcast interviewer: Sarah Tekath
Language: Dutch
Podcast producer: Cathy Leung for BRAM RADIO
Recorded: July 2023
Music by Anıl Kahvecioğlu (@celestialcompositions)

If you want to discover more migration stories in the Netherlands, you can read interviews online and find out more about the MYgration project at MYgration.nl.

Public discourse around migration continues to be polarised in the Netherlands. On both ends of the spectrum, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are often spoken about in mainstream media, with resulting stories maintaining an us/them divide. MYgration seeks to bridge this divide through providing a space where people can share migratory stories in their own words and on their own terms. In doing so, MYgration offers a multi-dimensional portrait of the ‘migrant experience’.

Please help us to share these stories, however you can.  Together, we can improve the understanding of migration in our society, and the people it involves.