No life and no future

A Malta based refugee interviewed for the website of Médecins Sans Frontières, an international humanitarian aid organisation, describes his attempts to find a better life:

We had tried and failed twice. But we didn't want to give up. That journey was our only chance so in August we tried one more time. We had been at sea for four days and four nights when our boat broke down. There were about 50 people on board. We were rescued by a Maltese ship and brought to Malta. When we landed, we didn't know where we were. We never thought of coming to Malta. I didn't even know where Malta was.

We were taken to a detention centre here. It was horrible. But I was lucky and stayed there only two months before coming here to this open camp. Now I live in a tent. I have received my humanitarian protection. It means that I am allowed to stay here legally, but I have to apply again every year. I also have a work permit, so I can look for a job. But it is very difficult to get a job in Malta. We see a job advertised and go all the way to Valletta, but when we get there they see it is a black man and they say they don't have the job anymore. I feel discriminated against.

I am now living in this tent. In the sun, in the rain. In the afternoon it is impossible to stay inside, because it is too hot. And we have nothing to do. In the camp there are these classrooms, but there is no teacher. We don't learn anything. I have been here for one year and I haven't been taught one single word of Maltese. I can't study, I can't buy books, I can't help my family back in Somalia either.

In Malta I have no future, no life, no education, no opportunity for development. We are all stuck. Our lives are wasted here. But we can't go back.

The good thing is that my girlfriend and I made the journey together and now she is my wife. We got married here in Malta in March this year. I don't want to be a weak man. I want to fight for my future.