How horrible must their position be if they are willing to leave behind everything they own?
Ronald: “I am twenty-five years old and I have nothing.” Ronald and Jonas are from Cotonou (Benin) in Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world.
Although they earn a lot more than the average salary, about $75 per month, they find it impossible to make ends meet. A decent level of life is completely out of reach. They want to get to Europe. They are in total desperation. They have 5000 kilometers to go. Most of the roads are through harsh desert. Jonas and Ronald discuss how they‘ll do it. They study the photos of other crossers. They see a truck in one of the pictures, small and overstuffed. There are people inside the vehicle as well as clinging to it. “How do they breathe?” Jonas wonders. Ronald exclaims, “Imagine you have to ride in such conditions for more than three days in enormous heat.”
Finally, they decide to go. They have the equivalent of three monthly wages and they hope it will be enough to cover all the costs. They don’t know that after they leave their country, they will have to pay a lot to keep the policemen looking in the other direction.
“All my friends live in Cotonou. Here I have met all my girlfriends. Here I left my family, cousins, and brothers. I left everything.” Ronald is in tears at the beginning of his journey. “I thought I would be happy to leave,” he says.
Left to die in the desert
After 36 hours, the truck breaks down. The drivers leave Ronald, Jonas, and 25 other refugees in the middle of the desert, telling them they will be back when they get the tools.
“They’ve done it on purpose,” complains Jonas. “We’ve got nothing to say. They want money. Smugglers can set the rules. Only they know how to cross the desert.” Ronald and Jonas had to pay without saying a word. Otherwise, they would have been left in the middle of the desert. They lost almost all their money in the middle of the journey. Then, because they could not afford to pay the “police taxes,” they were imprisoned and subsequently deported to their homeland. Watching The Other American Dream and Lost in Transit, I felt a barrage of questions arise in me. Why are these people so desperate that they would try such a thing? How horrible must their position be if they are willing to leave everything they own? What makes them want to risk their lives? My search for some answers took me to a refugee camp in Warsaw. No, I didn‘t get my answers, but I got a new understanding of what true desperation means to a person.
Poland is OK, but …
Ahmed is from Mogadishu (Somalia). He was delivered through Moscow to the biggest open market in all of Europe, the Warsaw Stadium. His eyes were tied with a scarf. “After some time, I realized that I was passing the stadium. It was my first impression of Poland.” This was one and a half years ago. Today Ahmed is 19 years old.
What does he want to do in the future? He doesn’t know yet. “But if it’s ever possible I’d like to go back to Somali. Poland is OK, but for me it will always remain a foreign country.”
Ahmed left his mother and brother. His family sold the house to afford Ahmed’s escape. It cost a staggering $1500, but life is priceless. “If I had stayed in Mogadish, I would have been killed,” Ahmed says. He is a member of the Reer Hammar clan, the minority ethnic group in Mogadishu. Since his escape, he has not heard anything about what is happening to his family. There is no way for them to contact each other. He reads about his homeland in the Internet, at www.hiiraan.com. “Now there is no government in Somalia, no police, people are killing each other. That is why post and telephones are not available.”
A guitar
Husz Amadit. Welcome to Poland, reads a poster made by Feda from Afghanistan. Feda was born in a place three days on horseback away from the nearest village. He is the representative of the only Shiite group in Afghanistan, the Hazar. Because he was living in a part of the country ruled by the Taliban regime, he was prosecuted. Feda’s father was an Imam and was killed. Feda, the firstborn son, was to avenge the murder of his father. But he has decided to stop the vicious cycle.
He has run away. “No matter where, I just wanted to leave.” Now he is studying in one of the Polish high schools. He doesn’t want to go back. Asked about his dreams, he replies, “A guitar. I would really like to play guitar. I remember I heard someone playing one in Afghanistan.”
