The daily lives of African migrants: asking for more food, jackets and freedom

Vydeniai’s empty school, located in front of several apartment buildings and surrounded by a fence, has become a temporary shelter for people from several African countries: Togo, Congo, Cameroon, Somalia, Eritrea and others who have crossed the border illegally. . The Yemeni had to meet with each other.

The area is guarded by officials from the Public Security Service. When they lift the fence and open it, we go inside.

Several people are sitting at the front door. Most begin to cover their faces.

An informal representative of the community located in the old school building also performs here.

The interior of the building is received by a stale air, which does not overflow with the autumnal freshness of that day. Lots of flies roaring everywhere.

In the hallway of the school, it is walking, it is in which corner people are sitting.

Some communicate with each other, others surf the Internet, a woman was talking to someone on a video call at the time.

Along the doors of some of the old classrooms: clothes, clothes on some windows or radiators in the hallway.

People communicate reluctantly. Some explain that they do not speak English, others shake their heads dressed and walk past.

Not everyone agrees and takes photos.

Ran away from war

When you open the first-class door, a dozen looks make sense.

The women who come here are mostly from Somalia.

Some of them, sleeping in sleeping bags, sleep in folding beds, some eat the food delivered, several chat with each other.

Jasmin says that she has been in Lithuania for two months.

The girl says that she is 17 years old and that she came from Somalia.

“I came here to ask for protection. There are many problems in my country: war, hunger, many things. That is why we came here,” he explains.

When asked why she came to Lithuania, Jasmin says she just wants to live in a safe country. Only up to a point.

The girl tells her way to our country.

From her native Somalia, she went to Ethiopia, from there she flew to Belarus, and then “someone accompanied her to Lithuania.”

Jasmin describes the conditions at the center of life in Vydeniai as difficult.

“Since there are no clothes, there is no clean water,” he says.

“But we hope that they will accept us as asylum seekers. The point is that we are looking for peace here. We came here to live in peace, to get protection, security, nothing more, ”says Jasmin, sitting next to Zeina.

According to the girls, they came here alone and met in Vydeniai.

Having said this Some of our politicians warn that almost none of the people who crossed the border illegally will be granted political refugee status.which means that one day they will be sent to their country, both girls react:

“Nerd”.

“It just came to our attention then. Particularly dangerous for girls because there are a lot of rapes. We are not sure,” says Zeina from Somalia, who says she is eighteen years old.

In fact, we have nowhere to return because our home is now at war and it is getting worse. Particularly dangerous for girls because there are so many rapes.

The girls say that they feel like a prisoner in the center of Vydeniai and would like to take a walk behind the fence.

Another Somali woman, Sabrina, joins the conversation.

She emphasizes that she wants responsible Lithuanian officials to listen to her personal stories and not just ask if the girls want to return to their country.

Sabrina says that he wanted to marry her in Somalia.

“Al-Shabaab (a militant Islamist group operating in Somalia – 15 minutes) said I had to marry under duress. My father said that I was a minor and that I could not get married. They then arrested him and held him until he agreed.

When he returned, he asked people to take me out of the country. Something helped us get to another country. I don’t know how they got me here. I don’t have a passport, “says a Somali woman who has difficulty speaking English.

The girls explain that their families paid for their trip to Lithuania, they don’t know how much it cost them.

Not much has been done

Most of the people who live in Vydeniai are simply dry in their beds.

Apparently, it’s no wonder it’s time in the afternoon.

Also, there is not much to do here.

One of the few ways to pass the time is to shoot a basket or kick a ball.

In the gym, several Africans threw him into the basket.

They are being watched at the door by a guy who showed up from Asiru, Togo.

Although he has difficulty speaking English, he is also trying to explain that he came to Lithuania to apply for asylum because he cannot live safely in his country.

“Because I had problems with my wife’s family. I’m in danger, “says a Togolese boy with his wife.

He does not like this center, he does not feel good here.

When asked if his goal was Lithuania or if he would like to live in, say, Germany, Sweden, Asir says the country doesn’t matter, the most important thing is to feel good.

You want to go to school

Ama, 16, who came from Eritrea, according to her, is alone in Lithuania, without a family.

He left his homeland because of the war.

Ama says her way to Lithuania first passed through Ethiopia.

“In Ethiopia, they wanted to send Eritreans back to Eritrea, where they would be trained to become soldiers. I didn’t want to be a soldier, so one of my Ethiopian friends said that I was going to Belarus because I had no other choice,” he says.

The boy from Ethiopia came to Belarus.

The neighboring country did not seem to leave a good impression on him.

According to him, there are racists who do not like blacks.

“In an agency they beat an African girl and sent her back, deporting her. They told us that we had no right to be in Belarus, so I was thinking of leaving, they encouraged us to come here.

When I remember everything in my life, I only think about how I am still alive, how I am still alive ”, he says.

When I remember everything in my life, I only think about how I am still alive, how I am still alive.

When asked what the final destination of the trip is, Ama explains that she only wants peace, nothing more.

“If I am guaranteed peace in Lithuania, why should I go to another country, why should I choose another country? If there is peace, everything is. When there is peace, you can survive anything, make your dreams come true, learn”, emphasizes the boy.

According to Ama, she is learning Lithuanian. First of all, communicate with Lithuanians on social media.

In the boy’s words, it also helps him to see what the world is like outside the center of Vydeniai, what Lithuania is like, what can be done here.

The new school year will start soon. Will Ama go to school? He is not aware of it.

“Nobody suggested that I go to school or anything like that. Of course, I would like to go to school because science is an important thing in the world. I want to be polite, I want to be special, nothing more, ”says the Eritrean.

“We are hungry, man”

As you walk through the old Vydeniai school, smells touch your nose in places. Especially in the bathrooms.

Not a single person who lives here complained about the sanitary conditions.

Also, lack of clothes, taste of food and portions.

“We are hungry, man”, passes a migrant who crossed the border illegally.

Vydeniai elder Genė Ramaškienė says that the old school in the city can accommodate 143 people.

She assures them that they are calm.

“It just came to our attention then. If there is a small problem, it comes down to that. But there are no big ones,” says the old woman.

The problems are mundane.

According to G.Ramaškienė, the people staying in the old Vydeniai school want freedom, they want to go to the store and buy phones.

Also ask for slippers, jackets.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Now Caritas is bringing some, we asked Humano, we received support, we will bring him back next week. It is getting cold for them,” says the old man from Vydeniai.

Food portions are small for some.

There are those who do not like the food that is served, they are not used to it.

“It just came to our knowledge then. We receive from stores, supermarkets, we share more. Now that the childcare centers have started to function, we still don’t understand it.

We have received it from the Food Bank, now of course we have finished, we will ask for it again. We are trying to complement this from another place, ”says G.Ramaškienė.

Vyden migrants receive hot food rations when, for example, people living in Rūdninkai do not.

Fierce controversy

Several journalists came to Vydenius with Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the Seimas Defense and National Security Committee (NSGC).

He wanted to meet migrants who were crossing the border illegally, urging them to return to their countries of origin.

Here, the parliamentarian distributed sheets in which it is written in various languages ​​that all those who crossed the Lithuanian border illegally have been detained.

They also claim that people can be fined, arrested or imprisoned for up to 2 years for illegally entering Lithuania from Belarus.

In addition, they will not have the right to leave our country to another European country.

“Until a decision is made to initiate criminal proceedings against you, you have the opportunity to express your desire to return to your country of origin. If you agree to return home voluntarily, please contact the International Organization for Migration (… – Contact information – 15 minutes) or any employee of the Immigration Department or the State Border Guard Service.

We will buy you a ticket and provide you with money for small travel expenses, ”according to the brochures distributed by L. Kasčiūnas.

When you give the brochures to the people outside, they read them, but they didn’t seem interested.

One of them returned a folded sheet of paper to the politician, saying that he needed asylum.

L.Kasčiūnas also tried to deliver these brochures to the people housed in the former assembly hall of the Vydeniai school.

There were more than a few dozen of them here.

After reading the writing, some began to question politics, what and how, and then passions emerged.

It all ended in a heated dispute with raised voices.

The chairman of the Seimas Human Rights Committee, Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, reacted to this on Facebook.

According to him, “the chairman of the Committee for Defense and National Security, who shouts at the migrants, is a very interesting illustration of the Lithuanian parliamentarianism of the 21st century.”