G’s story
“I decided to make the journey to the UK because my family and I were in a lot of debt. I grew up in a very poor village in the mountains and was the head of my house since my father died. I was recently engaged and, with five sisters to look after, I decided to go to the UK to try and make some money to send back home.
I met with a man in his 30s that would take a few of us out for dinner and drinks. He told us that he’d done this journey many times and that living in the UK is much easier and you can make so much money.
I persuaded my in-laws to take a loan out on their house because I was promised that I would find a job straight away and within 3 months I would make enough money to pay all my debts.
The journey was not as easy as I had been told. In France, during the afternoon before setting off on the small boat, I was pulled aside by the agent – he told me that the small boats are not very safe but if I paid extra, I would be able to get on a slightly larger boat and it would be much safer. I was not expecting this but as I thought it was the safer option, I paid anyway.”
At night, when we reached the drop off point, it was very hectic and busy. I ended up being forced into taking a small boat. When I tried to argue that I had paid for a larger boat, the agents laughed at me, flashed their automatics and ignored my request. They would cause a panic by telling us to hurry up, the police are coming, so that we would just shut up and set off as quickly as possible.
“I thought life in the UK would be very easy, that the government would aid with a house or at least a room to live in. I wouldn’t have to pay rent and I could send most of my earnings back home. I would be making a lot of money, I wouldn’t even need to cook, and I would be eating out every day.”
The experience of living in the UK is completely different than what I thought it would be. I had no help finding accommodation.
“It was very difficult to maintain work, as I had never worked in the construction industry before and I couldn’t handle the long shift nor did I have a trade. I also couldn’t keep up travelling for 2 hours each way on public transport to get to work.
I was struggling and I was told by colleagues that I should think about going into growing crop houses outside London. I was told it was very easy, that all the police know and won’t bother us, and I would still get paid monthly. However, once I started working and asked to get paid so I could send money back home, our bosses told me that they would bring us food, but we wouldn’t get paid until the crop was sold.
Knowing I could be returned home without making the money I needed was very scary. I felt paranoid going anywhere, travelling on the bus, going shopping, drinking a coffee. Especially when I was driving with other men, and I would hear sirens and I’d think I was caught.
I wouldn’t make the same decision to travel to the UK by boat. I was lying to my family back home. I’m still in debt and lost my respect, authority, and manliness amongst my family.”
