Kingsley Omorogbe

full interview

Good morning. I’m glad you agreed to this interview. And right now, we are asking some personal questions about the present situation and your past experience. So right now, what kind of housing do you live in?

Now I live in the street. And where I live, I sleep outside. It’s not easy for me to be sleeping for the five past months, no. I mean, we have like 15 to 20 people sleep there. Sometimes we have a lot of cold. Sometimes we have some good weather. But it’s not easy. And I don’t know. The life now is difficult for me.

Okay. I understand your situation. Do you work? How do you spend your day?
Uh, no, not really. For now, I don’t work. I just stay in the streets and move from one place to another place. That is what I do for now.

Wow. How has life been since you arrived?
Life is not easy because coming to Europe is another long journey. It’s a long experience. I don’t know how to describe it. The life is like up or down. Sometimes you are sad. Sometimes you are happy. Living like this for the past 3 to 4 years now without happiness.

I’m sorry to hear that. But, um, uh, what are some other things that brings you joy?
The thing bring me joy is my family back home. Sometimes when I call them, they do encourage me. Present now, uh, my mom, she’s not feeling fine. She had a stroke. And I feel sad when I think of that for this moment.

So we are saying, what are the things that give you strength?
Is is God. It is my God, my family. Because with your family, you have hope. They always encourage you to be strong, but it’s not easy to be alone in a foreign country. The situation is very terrible. That is why my family always bring me joy anytime I contact them.

Oh, I’ll be asking you a few things about your past. Why did you leave your country?
The reason why I left my country is that the system of Nigerian government. It’s not really good. There is no security. There’s no, uh, yeah, there’s no security. Um, that is the reason why I left Nigeria. My journey in the desert was so terrible. I spent one week in the desert before I arrived in Libya. That journey was so terrible that I lost some of my friends during the journey. And when I get to Libya, uh, we face a lot of challenges, difficulties that even, uh, we’ve been in the camp for two months. We only eat that bread once a day. And that is not easy to eat once in a day. It’s terrible. You get me? After that the journey did not work, I had to go back to the city again. Tripoli.

Uh, that time. How did this make you feel at that time?
You know at that time. The second time I went back to camp for the crossing. I spent down one month again. After that a lot of my friends, they planned to escape, but they did not tell me that day they plan to escape to go to Tripoli. Then that night all of them, they ran away. They left me behind. And when I woke up the next day, 11:00, I looked everywhere. Everywhere was so empty. Then the Arab man came. When he saw me, he told me, Oh, you are silly, yeah? Your friends, all of them ran away. You did not follow them? I tried to tell him. They did not inform me before they escaped. Then he said I have to find my way out. After me with some Gambians, we have four of us. We now decided to move that night by 8:00 to 9:00 when the day is over. Then, after that time. It was exactly 8:00 or 9:00. Then we move where we are running. Later some Arab boy saw us and come after way and I could not run because I lost strength and lost wit. Then I was caught. There, in that process, they hand me over to the soldiers, the soldiers now took me to the, they want to go lock me in the prison. Then later they searched my pockets. They see this anointing oil, I still have it, this is another one, all of them they look at it round (the soldiers were gazing at the anointing oil they saw with him). They wanted to put me inside the prison, they see this thing in my pocket (anointing oil), they took it, they said, they looked round, they said, the leader now asked me. Are you an Alfa (Muslim scholar), Alfa means Christain. Yes. I said, yes, I’m Alfa. Something just touched their heart, I don’t know how it happened, because they discovered that I’m going for the crossing to Italy. I have some rope in my waist. And when they saw rope in your waist it’s a crime, that you want to go and risk your life in that water and it’s underground prison crime. They wanted to put me inside prison. Immediately they saw this anointing oil in me, something touched them, I don’t know. They looked the anointing oil round, all the soldier. I stressed my hand to collect my anointing oil back. They said no. Immediately, I decided in my heart. This is a sacrifice. They took the anointing oil and the leader of the soldier now, he took me to his office. He said, no. He bring a lot of food for me to eat. I was crying. He said, eat! No, I want to help you. Ask me. I want to help you. You have anybody? I said No, I don’t know. I don’t have anybody. I want to help you. Then I already sick. I have a lot of sickness. Had it been I go to the prison, I could have died. It’s God that does help me, he now took me with his second in command. They now put me in the car. They drove me to the shajar quaters in Libya. They hand-over me to the shajans, I lay down, I thank them, they said, no, don’t worry. Don’t worry. Now you are safe now. Then they move, that’s the experience I face.

Wow. Very very difficult situation for someone to face. Does the situation you face that time, does this still affect you today?
Yeah, it still affects me because any time I think of it, I don’t feel happy. I feel sad, feel strongly now I’ll be, next year will be my ten years in Europe. I don’t have a resident. I don’t have a document. I would like the UN and the government to help me. I want you to pass this information to them so that I can maybe I have the help and I want them to help me. And I want to see my mom again because ten years is not easy. My mom is hoping to see me, to see me to visit Africa. You understand me? I left Nigeria nine years now and next is making ten years.

Okay. How long have you been in the Spain?
Yeah, I be in Spain now is going six months now. I came to Spain at July last five months.

Before Spain, is there any country you have been to?
Yeah, I be yeah. And I’ve been to Italy, France and Poland and so forth.

Um. What, what was a dream for the future? When you will live in? What was a dream?
My dream is to come to Europe to further my education because I studied business administration. If I can have the chance to go for two years’ course now so that I have some certificates so that when I go back to my country, I can join the leaders there to move Nigeria forward. That is my dream. I dream of coming to Europe is to have more experience to learn more of the system so that the council is passed to the upcoming ones.

Um, what are your strengths? What makes you strong, makes you keep growing every day?
My strength is my family members. They pray for me every time. They encourage me to be strong. God is also my strength. I also pray every time. I also try my best to put things in order. But it’s not easy. A finger cannot form a forest.

Right now your economic situation. What are the challenges you are facing?
The challenges are facing now is my sleep in the streets, I don’t bathe always. l I bathe two times in a week. It’s not a very difficult situation where imagine someone sleep in the street. It’s not easy. It’s not easy. There is a lot of cold wind. Sometimes rain will fall, we stand all day, all night, don’t sleep. Sometimes wind would be blowing. That is the challenges are facing right now.

I’m so I’m sorry to hear you about that. Um, what was a dream for the future?
My dream is to become a businessman, to create the small scale enterprise. Because I studied business administration. I am trying to go for business. That is my dreams.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate you answer this question. Is there anything else that you would like to heard that might help people in Europe to understand the life of, uh, refugees and, uh.
Yeah. I want the Europeans to know that we are refugees, we are not bad people. Some of us are good. Some of us are intelligent. I know majority of us did not go for school, did not learn and work. But some of us have skills and want work. I just want the European to try to have that love between black and white. We are one. They should receive us as their brothers. We are not their enemies. They need to understand, we too, we come with threat, with problem. We did not ask leave our country like that to come to foreign land. The situation that everyone of us come here.

Well, thank you very much. I think I am uh, now will be the last question for today. Um. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much.