Swimming Upstream

When everything takes away your right to exist, one act of courage can restore your right to be seen.

From Bangladesh to the waters of the Tiber, this is the extraordinary true story of Sobuj Khalifa. He arrived in Italy chasing the dream of a better life, but instead found himself without work or a home, forced to live inside the Cloaca Maxima, an ancient Roman sewer. Invisible to everyone’s eyes, until one day—May 12, 2015—fate came knocking. He saw a woman drowning in the river. Nobody else stepped in. He did. He dived into the water and saved her.

That single act of pure courage changed everything. Sobuj became a hero, celebrated by the media, interviewed by Italy’s leading newspapers, and honored by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, for his extraordinary humanity.

• A moving and powerful book that tells a true and deeply timely story—one that stirs consciences and restores value to the lives of those who are too often unseen.
• A true story, powerful and urgent, about migration, marginalization, and redemption. A narrative that questions what we notice—and what we choose to ignore—every single day.

Cover illustration by Elisabetta Stoinich and Pemberleypond.