MONES JOURNEY TO EUROPE
Jun 14th, 2007 by kendi
Travelling is like a novel. My journey to Europe began four years ago and I am ready to continue reading as long as the story lasts. The reader is Mone Tortsegh from Nigeria. He is thirty two years old, recently married and pursuing an undergraduate program at a foreign university in Greece.
HOW DID YOU COME TO ATHENS,GREECE?
I came to Greece through Turkey, the most popular route for most Africans. I wanted to come to Europe because of the perfect life I saw in the movies. I didn’t realise i was moving to a society with a much higher crime rate than Nigeria. I thought leaving Nigeria would lead to a less stressful life and I would be able to take proper care of my family. I wanted to go to a land flowing with milk and honey.
But, it was the beginning of a nightmare.
The journey from Africa to Turkey is an ordeal. It is a death warrant to Africans. One is subjected to situations, I cannot even begin to describe. Its beyond imagination. These crossings only happen through the so-called connection men, who happen to be Europeans. They collect huge amounts of money from Africans for easy passage to Europe. People making this journey die every day on the way or they are caught by what ever authorities and put in prison. The connection men take your money and leave you at the first sign of trouble.
Personally, I spent days and nights on the road, sometimes with no food or water to drink. Well, now i am in Athens and I have seen the light of Europe
HOW DID YOU EVENTUALLY GET INTO THE SYSTEM?
How can you get into a system that has no structure? If there is no structure or rule, then there is no room for integration. I guess this is what has makes it difficult for most African migrants in Athens. I found a way that worked for me. One of the first things i did was to attend a Greek school to learn the language,the culture and the the people. This was my method of survival.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
I got an opportunity to study, and at the same time I began to buy and sell household goods. I cant get a proper job because Greek
employers generally do not hire on a part time basis. Its difficult to find a proper job.
HOW DO YOU SURVIVE THEN?
Its all in the structure I laid out for myself. I am
a business man, I trade, But this is not what I wanted to do, I never thought I would come to Europe to buy and sell. I just don’t have any choice. I want to be a skilled worker, right now that dream seems far away.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR YOU IN GREECE?
I told myself before I left Africa that was not running away from Nigeria. I travelled because I wanted to learn and understand more about life. But I cannot finish school and go on to selling cigerettes at the kiosk. I am still hoping my dream will come true someday. Not, having a proper job is a huge problem. How long can I continue buying and selling? I know that being accepted in Greece will encourage integration on my part. I cannot give my best if I am not accepted. I must be accepted before I can offer something.
Okay, I’m probably going to be called a racist here and I’m not. I have never understood why people of intelligence leave their own homeland to go to another country when they could be using their intelligence to make their own countries better. My own parents emigrated and being a child I had no say in the matter, but truthfully, I wish they had stayed in their own country. I know that everyone thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it really isn’t and sometimes it’s just better to make your own grass grow. Just thinking and throwing out for discussion.
I need to make one more comment on this entry. I’m not Greek but do understand the Greek mentality somewhat being married to one. Not him, but his family who still live in Greece. You will always be considered an outside as unfair as that is. I’m not even sure that the rest of Europe isn’t the same? What do you think.
Even here in Multicultural Toronto, it sometimes seems as bad, and small villages are even worse. Case in point, I have a friend who has owned a farm outside of town for over 20 years, yet when she decided to live there full time and move her real estate career from Toronto to this small community, she was treated as an “outsider” and was not able to make a go of it. And she was not a visible minority so go figure…ci
Yes, one will always be considered an outsider, irrespective of ones accomplishments. The bottom line is for the adopted country to understand why people move outside their home countries, and learn to accomodate.