Searching for and creating “home” is a recurring theme throughout many of the testimonies. Leaving behind a place that once seemed the natural focal point of belonging requires a rethinking of what home means and how it can be actively shaped.

Many accounts describe the process of gradually making a home in places that were not initially intended as permanent destinations. This involves active reflections of what to identify with and what not. Through work, community involvement, friendships, and participation in local social and cultural life, migrant women actively contribute to shaping the places in which they settled. At the same time, “home” often includes connections to places and communities left behind. Food, language, music, festivities, traditions, and regular contact with family and friends help maintain a sense of continuity across borders, often supported by migrant communities and periodic returns.

Many interlocutors reflect on how they found a way to feel home without being dependent on a specific location. Rather, their sense of home became more closely connected to the individual social and emotional environments they cultivated, to provide comfort and safety. In this way, home could be found, recreated, and sustained across different places and stages of life.