emigrants'stories
EMIGRANTS' STORIES
Listen to the song Papeles Mojaos by Chambao and watch the video. It will make you think
( documents taken from Manos Unidas's educative materials)
(The photographs don't correspond to the protagonists of the stories,
they have been taken from Internet)
Savita's story
Savita was born in the countryside around a small village in India. One day some men arrived in her village. They said that they were representatives of an important factory and they were looking for boys and girls to work in the textile industry... That seemed incredible! At last Savita could have the opportunity to leave her village and travel to the city.
The men gave her father an advance of Savita's pay and she left the village together with some children. After a long trip they arrived at a house. They were shut in a dark room where they worked, slept and ate.
Savita was never paid. Her boss said that she still owed all the payment her father had received. And also for her accomodation and food. She wanted to escape from the moment she arrived, but the door was always locked and if anyone tried to leave the house they were tied to a bench.
- Explain in your own words what type of migration this is and how she must feel. What is the cause? Is it worse for women than for men? Why? Why not?
Winnie Nawakwi's story
"My name is Winnie Nawkwi. I am 15 years old. I was born in Teticha, a village in Ethiopia. I belong to a family of eight children and I also lived with my granparents and two uncles and aunts. We all worked in the fields and in the evening the women prepared the food for all the family and the children played with dolls made of grass, and wooden cars. We made the toys ourselves. At night our grandfather told us stories about our ancestors.
I don't know where my relatives are now. Please tell the governments to stop the wars.....!"
(Winnie is not living any longer in Ethiopia. She is a refugee because of the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. These two countries are fighting for the possesion of a frontier territory. She lives in a refugee camp with her mother and two sisters. They don't know anything about the rest of the family......)
- Explain what type of migration this is. What is the cause? What do you think is the future of these four women ? What other examples of this do you know?
Yumba's story
Yumba Kingombre is 16 years old. He lives in Madrid now, but he comes from a small village near Lubumbashi in Zaire. That is a wonderful place. There he worked in the corn fields with his father and and brothers. They worked from sunrise to dusk; Other men worked near them. They sang beautiful songs and repeated the rhythms of African drums through gestures. Yumba thought that life was beautiful.
In the afternoon the women went to take water from the well. They talked and talked. The old men talked about their ancestors. The young enjoyed belonging to the tribe.
Unfortunately the crops failed because of a severe drought. Then the soldiers of Lubumbashi arrived and took the chicken and the sheep by force. The inhabitants of the village lost everything. Yumba and other young people knew that Belgian people who were in charge of the diamond mines in Zaire had cars and money... So they decided to go to Belgium to find a job...
The trip was terrible. Yumba had to borrow money at a high interest. He couldn't get to Belgium and now he lives in a slum in Madrid. He works as a gardener, but has to hide from the police because he has no papers. Life in Madrid is very expensive and he lives in poverty, so he can't help his family. People looks down on them and call them"those lousy blacks". He misses his fields at dusk.....
- What type of migration is this? What are the causes? Try to understand how this boy feels. Do you think he enjoys living in Madrid? Why? Why not?
M's story
(translated from El Pais )
M. is Moroccan. He is 17 years old and at the moment he is living on the street in Madrid. He looks frightened. " I lived in a Youth Centre in Madrid, but I escaped from it when they told me that the police were coming to send me back to Tanger. I don't want to go back!!! I would like to be a cook and stay here in Madrid."
_What does your family say? - " They tell me not to go back there. Other Moroccan friends have escaped too. The police appear by surprise. Some Moroccan boys go to bed with their trainers on to escape as fast as possible."
M. has been in Madrid for two years. He arrived in Spain after trying it six times. He could pass the border under a lorry. One of his brothers died while he was waiting to cross Gibraltar.
"If they send me back, I'll come back again and again....!"
- What type of migration is this? Why do you think he doesn't want to go back to his country? Does he deserve an opportunity in life?
We'll go to Isabel Perez's site and will work on the song Where is the love? by Black Eyes Peas, an American hip hop group composed of four singers coming from quite different backgrounds: will.i.am, a black American man, apl.de.ap, from The Philippines, Taboo from Mexico and Fergie , a white American woman. They criticize the hyprocrisy of the world.
LOLA ACEITUNO
