Everything Will Be Alright

Samrawit was just eight years old when she decided to flee Eritrea on her own—leaving behind her parents and younger siblings. She was all alone. On the way she often wondered if she'd done the right thing. Should she go back home, or keep going? How could she live without her mother? And was she safe?

Now in the Netherlands, Samrawit shows us what she experienced by going to places that look like locations from her past. Once there, she lets her 10-year-old sister Muqat re-enact moments from her journey.

We also see Samrawit living her Dutch life: going to school, working and looking forward to her further education. She hopes she’ll meet Dutch people of her own age and is disappointed when, again, she is placed in a separate class for migrants. She listens to Eritrean and Dutch pop music, and the song she finds most comforting when she’s feeling sad is “Alles komt goed” (“Everything Will Be Alright”) by Jaap Reesema. Her 18th birthday brings real independence a step closer. This is a unique story told and visualized by a teenager who has been chasing a better future since childhood.