I invite you to embark with me on the road trip I am about to make, starting in the Spring of 2011. In about 10 months time I will travel from Puerto Toro, the southernmost settlement in Chile, to Deadhorse in northern Alaska, investigating the roots of migration.
I will look for answers to questions such as: Why do people migrate? Where to and for what reasons? What is the fate of the different indigenous populations in the Americas? And what effects does migration have on the countries involved? During this trip, I will produce photography stories about the people and issues I encounter in the 15 countries along the route. I will also make radio- and video interviews. And I will gather other documented material from local sources to complement my own material.

All this will be combined on a website and on an iPad application that is especially developed for this project. By making this project available on iPad, I am able to offer the content in a new way to you, the audience.

“Why migration?”, you might ask.

I found, while travelling the world for two decades as a photojournalist, that many of the issues I was reporting on were related to migration. People move to different places for all kinds of reasons, be it economical, political or because of conflict. I also noticed that, although migration is as old as humanity, nowadays it is often viewed as a new phenomenon and a threat to western society.

Over the years the urge grew in me to devote a long-term project entirely to this subject. Looking at the diverse causes and reasons that are at the heart of it, and the many effects migration has on the economies and societies involved, I want to create a better understanding of the phenomenon.

What better place to do this than the America’s? After all they are continents shaped by colonialism and migration. People move all over the continent; looking for work, a different life, a better life or fleeing because of conflict. Sometimes people cross a border for these reasons, but more often they move to other regions in their own country. Of all migratory movements on both continents, only a very small percentage goes from Latin America to the USA.

In 2006 and 2007 I went to Chile to work on a pilot for this project. I photographed the Mapuche in their struggle for equal rights and for their land. I also photographed the people on the southern island of Navarino, who arrived from the northern regions, looking for work as a fisherman or in the wool industry. Almost all of the native population in this area was killed by the early settlers, starved to death or expelled from land that now belongs to multinational companies. Only a few communities survived.
I would like to continue the story and to shed light on all the other stories that the Via Panamericana has to tell. And for this your help is much needed.

Thanks to the grants from Dutch foundations for the arts and journalism, I am able to cover most of the project’s expenses. However part of the expenses remain uncovered, such as for food and lodging during my trip. Your donation will enable me to make the final step towards realizing this long wanted project. So buckle up, pitch in and let’s go!

Internationale Samenwerking (IS) - the Dutch monthly about international cooperation and developmental issues - is Kadir van Lohuizen's media partner in the Via Panam project. IS will publish the project on a monthly basis starting in May.