By Karen Phillips
Photo: Merid Estifanos (CPJ/Phillips)
August 14, 2008
Merid Estifanos was still in his afternoon French class when I arrived at the Maison des Journalistes (MDJ) this afternoon to meet him. I was greeted instead by Maison’s director, Philippe Spinau, who gave me the grand tour of the house that has been home to many journalists who, like Estifanos, were forced into exile for their work.
Spinau, who co-founded MDJ in 2002, told me that for journalists fleeing imprisonment and violence in their home countries, finding themselves in a community of their professional peers is a source of both comfort and pride. “They may be in exile, but here they still have a professional identity,” he said.
During my tour of MDJ I met journalists from Burma, Senegal, Paraguay, Iraq, and Sri Lanka. They all had horror stories to share–imprisonment, torture, months in hiding awaiting the opportunity to leave their regions and be able to breath again.
Merid Estifanos (CPJ/Phillips)MDJ accommodates up to 30 journalists each year from around the world providing each with a small private room, courses in French language and culture, a public transportation pass, psychological services, and coupons to by groceries for a six-month period. Spinau showed me their rooms (each named for a media outlet that provided funding), the common area with TV and video library, and the office of L’Oeil de l’Exilé (The Eye of the Exilee) the publication run by MDJ residents. Our tour ended in the basement where Estifanos and a group of his colleagues were finishing their French class. When he spotted me he jumped up to give me a hug. Though this was my first meeting with Estifanos, I felt I knew him well. Read More.
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