“Why do
people come to Europe if there is no fortune here?” asks Sister Fa, a Senegalese
musician who moved to Berlin a few years ago. This seems to be an important
question for many of those who immigrate to Europe as their new life is not
always what they expect it to be.
Whatever
their reasons might be, many of them find love in their new home. There is an abundance of stories of African immigrants
who fell in love with Europeans, got married and had children with them. Even
though they have a family here, there is no guarantee that they can stay
forever. The dream of a life in safety often ends up in so called “detention centres”,
where immigrants are held against their will and have to wait for the deportation
to their home countries. Among the captives in a Dutch prison-like detention
facility there is one man who has been living in the Netherlands for ten years,
is married to a Dutch woman and has a son with her. None of these facts seem to
impress the Dutch authorities or to persuade them to extend his visa. His
family is not even allowed to come to visit him. The despair is obvious: “I’d
be better off dead than staying in this prison any longer.” No wonder if you
consider the circumstances he is living in. The detainees are treated like
criminals and sometimes even physically abused. Is this the Europe they were
dreaming of?
Now back
to Sister Fa and her life in Germany. She met a German guy in Senegal who did
research on African music. They fell in love, got married and moved to Berlin where
they are living a happy life with their son. Sister Fa is very content with her
decision to come to Europe but not everybody is that lucky. Take her friend Bea
for example. She came to Europe with her family but after a fight with the wife
of her dad, he took away her documents so she had to get married or have a
child in order to stay. Now she has a little girl but nobody supports her
except for Sister Fa. Another friend of them came to Germany on a student visa
but since he failed his exams, his visa expired. Now he has to go back to
Africa, even though he was already planning to marry his German girlfriend.
Obviously,
many of their situations are difficult but most of them try to think positively
and won’t give up their fight for a better life in Europe.
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