I come from a French-speaking country in West Africa, I am a mother of three children, two girls and a boy who still live there. I am 32 years old and I have been an asylum seeker in Europe for two years. More than 18 months of this time I have been in Germany. With these few lines I would like to describe the living conditions of the migrants in the camp where I live in Germany.
We live somewhere in southern Germany, in a centre where we are accommodated as asylum seekers, I call us migrants. Today the centre accommodates a number of migrants with different backgrounds. Originally we were not far from a shopping centre, but recently we have been forced to change location without any real explanation from the various people responsible for our accommodation centre. This brutal relocation of our accommodation was, as it seems to us, due to the demands of the local residents. Rumours suggest that this unexpected move of our accommodation centre is due to several reasons, some of which I will try to mention here:
Residents have complained that the proximity of the ANKER Centre to their homes seemed dangerous to their safety. According to these German citizens who complained about the presence of a large number of foreigners, especially blacks, who would “roam” their streets at inappropriate times, these would damage and disturb the peace and safety of their children.Obviously the presence of blacks was not welcome. The proof is this anecdote: One Saturday morning we were on our way to our weekly shopping in the city centre. While we were sitting on a bench waiting for the bus, we saw an elderly woman arrive at the bus stop who was very badly on foot. As befits our African upbringing, we got up to make room for her. After a short hesitation she agreed to take the place we had given away. Then she took a handkerchief out of her bag, with which she cleaned the place where we had been sitting, and with another handkerchief she protected her nose, a gesture that clearly expressed the protection against smells that she thought we were emitting. A scene that took place every time the blacks passed her, but which she obviously did not repeat when the whites passed her. An attitude which, unfortunately, we encounter daily.
For others, the move would have been a reaction to the fact that the old centre, which is still closed, had been chosen to build a new university.
Our “new home” is located between three villages somewhere in a rural area, more than five kilometers from the city center. The nearest supermarket is two kilometers away.Obviously the presence of blacks was not welcome. The proof is this anecdote: One Saturday morning we were on our way to our weekly shopping in the city centre. While we were sitting on a bench waiting for the bus, we saw an elderly woman arrive at the bus stop who was very badly on foot. As befits our African upbringing, we got up to make room for her. After a short hesitation she agreed to take the place we had given away. Then she took a handkerchief out of her bag, with which she cleaned the place where we had been sitting, and with another handkerchief she protected her nose, a gesture that clearly expressed the protection against smells that she thought we were emitting. A scene that took place every time the blacks passed her, but which she obviously did not repeat when the whites passed her. An attitude which, unfortunately, we encounter daily.
For others, the move would have been a reaction to the fact that the old centre, which is still closed, had been chosen to build a new university.
Our “new home” is located between three villages somewhere in a rural area, more than five kilometers from the city center, the nearest supermarket is two kilometers away. The centre consists of an administration, a day care centre for children (kindergarten), a school for minors, a centre for learning German language and culture for adults (27 years and older), a health centre and a Caritas office that helps us to translate our letters and other administrative documents.There is an internet connection which is accessible on the outdoor area of the centre (practical in summer, but not very useful in winter when the temperature is close to zero degrees), a canteen where we are entitled to one meal a day, and finally the Social Welfare Office where we receive a monthly allowance of 120.27 €.
In this centre, as the people in charge say, almost everything is available to us. But those in charge refrain from saying that we are deprived of a fundamental right: freedom. For example, we are not allowed to leave the district. Those who had the bad idea to do so were forced to reopen their entire trial, including my roommate, who has been living in the centre for more than a year.
The accommodation in our centre is a horror, because we live with five women per room, with no privacy, with a very precarious sanitary situation, especially since some women have been infected with communicable diseases as sexual slaves during their stays in Libya or Morocco.
The adoption and implementation of the migration package gives only couples or singles with children the right to be transferred to apartments after six months. The others, singles, are obliged to live in the camp for at least 18 months if their decision is negative, or 24 months if they have been in the centre for more than one and a half years as Dublin case – under depressing living conditions, non-existent or not at all respected human rights for migrants living in this region of Germany. An example: the only school in the centre where we could study and spend part of our days is only open for a few months. After that we are no longer entitled to continue learning the German language and have no access to another fundamental right, the right to education.
We have almost no right to any kind of activity, no help and support for those who want to integrate, we don’t even have access to television to watch the news from here and elsewhere, even the bus, which costs us €5, does not run regularly. Since October 2019 we have been living on 122,27 € per month (increase of 2,- €), a budget with which we have to pay our lawyer and the regularly distributed fines (fines of at least 300,- €), depending on the whim of those who impose them. Examples: Migrants covered by the Dublin Regulations who refused to return to the first European country where they were registered, or others, including myself, who entered Germany on a regular German visa, which has now expired.
The social benefits that we receive for our living are not enough to cover our needs, especially for women. In December 2019 these benefits were reduced by a further almost €8 for an internet connection that the accommodation management forces us to pay for. However, as mentioned above, during the winter months, in an area where it is constantly raining and snowing, it is difficult for us to benefit from this connection. So why do they make us pay for a connection that is only accessible in the yard? In reality, these social benefits only serve to pay our fines and the lawyers we hire to defend us. So we only have less than €50 to live for a whole month after paying our various debts. But we have at least a few € to live on, unlike those covered by the Dublin Regulation. They do not receive social security benefits for six months, which unfortunately often leads Sub-Saharan Africans to steal from the shops. The living conditions here are inhumane, too much stress combined with the difficulty for us to live in this “prison”, for almost two years without doing anything, without working, without the possibility to study or do other activities. This is incredible in a country like Germany, which is proud to respect human rights when there are neighbouring regions like the Netherlands and others where migrants live under very different conditions. This situation increases my stress and regularly makes me feel like committing suicide because I don’t feel free, free to move around, free to learn, free to do something to be useful, free to live.
Germany has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where Article 13 states: Everyone has the right to move and reside freely within a State and beyond its borders. So why do I not have the right to leave my country, the right to go to another country if I do not feel safe in my own country, as the UN Charter states? Tell me, do these rights exclude people from Africa? Why am I stuck in this prison if I have not committed a crime? All I have asked for is a new chance, a new opportunity, a new life in a country other than my own. Tell me if immigration is a crime. Are Africans the first to immigrate to Europe? Are Europeans, white people, never immigrated? Why is there so much injustice for men and women who only want to improve their daily lives?
I just want to live, live for my children, live like a human being, just live. If Germany does not want us, then let us go, because other European countries will certainly accept us as human beings. The absurd thing about this story is that people run away when the situation becomes unbearable. And if they are caught, they are brought back to the centre and their whole process starts all over again, no matter how many months they have already spent there. What good is this months of deprivation of freedom that wastes our time, makes us live in stress and insecurity, only to then give us the command “LEAVE THE COUNTRY” or stamp the stamp with “NEGATIVE”. They forget that during this time the lives of our children are in danger, as in the case of a mother from our centre who has just learned of the death of her 14-year-old daughter, death by GFM (Female Genital Manipulation), while the mother, like all of us, rots in this centre, this “prison”… I demand life, freedom and respect for my rights, because my rights are being trampled and violated here. And yet I should enjoy the same rights as Germans, French and other Europeans, here as on any other continent, in Africa and in my country, where I come from, where German or European (white) men and women travel and/or live “like kings”, while I lead a life as a prisoner in their country. So what is my crime?
When I left my country because of the great insecurity, because my children and I were in danger, I didn’t know what the life of migrants in Europe was really like, I thought the reality was different. Today I know what it is like to be an immigrant, an undocumented, illegal immigrant in Europe. Today I call on the Federal Republic of Germany to review its system for integrating asylum seekers. All migrants, myself and my children would like a new chance to start from scratch. Living on social welfare is not part of my plans, I would like Germany to allow me to go to school to learn the German language and culture, to do vocational training or improve the existing one, to have a stable job, to look after my children and to contribute to the good development of my host country. At the moment I dream that the result of my vocation will be POSITIVE. POSITIVE, to have the possibility to get my children back, because while the situation is delayed, while the Germans take time to think, the life of my children is also in danger, my little ones are my whole life, my whole life I have fought alone and faced all obstacles, only to have to flee without my children in pain, stress, unanswered questions and grief. And all this is because I have refused to accept that injustice will be repeated in the lives of my children. At night, my bed becomes a lake of tears, I cannot sleep, my appetite and sense of humor have disappeared. As a single mother, I want the best for my children – a life without fear, like all Germans and Europeans. Don’t wait until the worst happens, only to become “Doctors without Borders” again. An asylum seeker in need. Just live, live and start over with my children.
