A refugee between waves and dreams
by Elena Sartorius
After crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean at the age of 17, and charming the European Parliament, several NGOs and international organizations, Farah Abdi is about to publish a book. In a migrant's suitcase, there can also be optimism, ambition and a great potential to be discovered.
He is not asking for pity. His guiding principle is ‘go after your dreams’ and he has already achieved a few: magazines feature him on their cover, European politicians request his presence and NGOs are fighting over him. That's Farah Abdullahi Abdi, 20, with his stylized Afro hairstyle, capri pants and wine coloured leather jacket. Distinguishing feature: crossed the Mediterranean in one of those boats full of refugees which often make it to the headlines. The Mediterranean is the shortest, but most dangerous stretch of an uncertain migration route. He has also been imprisoned five times in Libya, where he was tortured. This was in 2012, and he was only 17 (1). But, again, he's not asking for pity, he only wants to live his life and his dreams, to write and to talk.
This charming activist and blogger was facilitating a youth session at a UNHCR conference in Geneva in early July, where he managed to make the audience laugh. Invited from event to event, he is no longer a master of his time. What is it that drives this amazing young man? "I do all this, he answers, so that I can have a sense of belonging."
"I was in this very, very dark place, and I knew that it was either going to be me leaving, or killing myself”
It is difficult for Farah to determine where his home is, as he is twice a refugee. In Kenya first, then in Malta. Born in Somalia, one of three countries in the world from where most refugees originate, he fled the civil war ravaging his country with his family, at the age of three. "As she could see no solution to the conflict,” he explains, “my mother decided to leave, so she could give us an education." First refugee camp: Kakuma, in northwest Kenya. The family stayed there for three months. "The living conditions were unbearable, worse than in Somalia. It was really hot during the day and there were no sanitary facilities." So the family moved to Nairobi, where Farah grew up and learned Swahili and English. He says he did not have any integration difficulties in Kenya, unlike Malta, where his blog, reputation and origins are often criticized. "When I made the cover of the Sunday Circle, a Maltese lifestyle magazine, the reaction was fierce, some people were outraged: ‘So now refugees now wear Armani? They are no longer poor?'" says Farah, mimicking their offended attitude. As far as he is concerned, he just loved "being a diva for a day."
Cautious, the magazine preferred not to reveal the reason that forced Farah to leave his cocoon in Nairobi to venture on a journey that many people pay with their lives (2). His own mother was not even aware: "You really want to get yourself killed?” she asked, “you want to die in the Mediterranean? Why do you want to leave?" Farah remembers: "I was very depressed, so she would give me $400 a week to buy clothes, hoping it would make me happy." He left without being able to tell her the truth." I was in this very, very dark place, and I knew that it was either going to be me leaving, or killing myself." How could he talk to his mother about his sexual orientation, which he had hidden from everyone, when in Somalia, his home country, homosexuals are considered "a danger to society”, and in Kenya, his host country, they face up to 14 years in prison? In Africa, at least 35 countries, Christian or Muslim, legally punish homosexual acts (3).
"I don’t believe there is a problem with migrants or refugees in Europe, it’s just a problem of skin colour"
Farah kept his secret across the desert and the Mediterranean. Before embarking for Europe, he did not know his destination. "From Libya, some ships arrive in Lampedusa, others in Malta, no one knows in advance where they are going," he says. By chance, he reached the English speaking island. As he knew the language, he was able to stand out immediately. After an X-ray scan determined that he was under 18 years old, he was quickly taken out of the detention center where refugees are confined to join an open center for minors. There he was able to talk to a psychotherapist. "Your story is very important, if you don't talk, she warned him, your asylum request will be rejected." It took him three months before he felt ready to explain the reasons for his migration to the authorities. Recognizing the risk of persecution linked to his sexual orientation, Malta soon granted him refugee status.
The young man found work, first on a construction site, then in a restaurant. In Malta, he explains, “asylum seekers can work legally from the age of 16." He sums up the needs of young refugees in three words: integration, therapy, employment. For him, learning the language of the host country is a requisite for integration: he was able to manage thanks to the fact that he spoke English. "A lot of girls and boys, he adds, were beaten and raped during their journey, they need psychological counselling”. As for employment, it is the best way not to be a burden to the host country. “I work, I pay my taxes, I study, I am just a part of the society." Contrary to popular belief, in most countries migrants pay more in taxes and social contributions than they receive in aid. Particularly in Switzerland, where they bring to the state a net profit estimated at 2% of the GDP (4).
He feels safe and comfortable today, and is not afraid of telling the truth: "Yes, human trafficking is a lucrative business, especially in Libya." He reveals the total cost of his journey: 12,000 US dollars, from Nairobi to Malta, paid in installments by his mother to accounts in Doha and Dubai. "The traffickers would give us instructions: ‘Call your loved ones, tell them to deposit the money in this account, and once we have your money, you will be able to move forward with your journey'" (5).
"No, I don’t believe there is a problem with migrants or refugees in Europe, it’s just a problem of skin colour", he says. For Farah, the world faces more pressing issues, such as climate change and corruption. "For politicians, migrants are an easy scapegoat. They don’t have a voice, they don’t have the voting power, so if you blame them, if you make them look like a burden, if you make them look like the bad guys, then at the end of the day they don’t vote for you, so you are just convincing your public to hate them, in the hope of you getting votes."
Farah remembers the time he spent in the center for minors. "Some of the staff were very xenophobic, they would say: 'Go back to your country, you are wasting our resources.'" Poorly paid, probably victims of the crisis with their families, "they could not stand the way the government was taking care of us, giving us seven euros of pocket money per week, three meals a day, everything we needed". He can understand them. "I have gone through it too," he admits. “Whenever I was very angry, whenever I was very depressed and very sad, I would look at the nearest targets I could find to put them down so they would suffer with me."
Farah would like to continue living his dreams. He has the potential and the ambition for that. As a refugee and homosexual, he wants to continue his double fight against exclusion. Publish his book. Become a stylist. Complete his studies in international relations (to work in the UN, his plan B). Abolish frontiers: "I am a citizen of the world", he says. "My country is condemned since my birth, does that mean am I doomed, because my country is doomed? No, he repeats, convinced. I am a citizen of the world."
Notes:
1. According to UNHCR, over 50% of refugees are minors.
2. In 2012, the year Farah arrived in Malta, 500 migrants lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean.
3. http://www.loc.gov/law/help/criminal-laws-on-homosexuality/african-nations-laws.php
4. http://www.oecd.org/migration/mig/OECD%20Migration%20Policy%20Debates%20Numero%202.pdf
5. Farah travelled with his cousin by public bus from Nairobi to Juba, in southern Sudan, where he was taken in charge by a first group of traffickers. He was then tossed around between Juba and Khartoum, from stopover to stopover, from trafficker to trafficker, joining a new group of refugees every time. He crossed the Sahara packed at the back of a pick-up truck with 33 other people before arriving in Libya. There, he was arrested 5 times by militia, and his family had to pay each time for his release. It took him seven months to cross the country before reaching the Mediterranean.
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"Destination unknown" in action
Half of the migrants are under 18 years old. "Destination unknown" is an international campaign led by Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF) and its member organizations to protect these children and youth. Its objective is to develop specific protection mechanisms, raise public awareness and advocate for policy change. According to Ignacio Packer, general secretary of TDHIF, current European policies on migration "respond to fear and go against humanitarian law." The campaign, which takes into account the opinions of migrant children themselves, made 10 demands for the protection of children on the move. These relate in particular to the custody of minor children, family reunification and access to services such as education, health, justice and employment.
Terre des Hommes Switzerland, based in Geneva, is active with migrant children through several projects in India and Peru. The organization works on several levels:
• Preventing risks for migrant children;
• Developing protective measures from the point of departure to the destination;
• Raising awareness amongst the communities;
• Advocating for policies, practices and laws which serve the best interests of children;
• Working within communities to provide alternatives for children and their families: access to education, vocational training and development opportunities.