I left my country to help my family; in fact, my parents asked me to send them some money because they were in difficulty. However, in many instances it was not easy to make the people in the new place of arrival understand this responsibility. Actually, often their proposals didn’t correspond to my expectation. I thus decided to tell the people I met how important it was for me to help my family and not to let them down, in order to access opportunities appropriate to my needs and familiar exigencies. After that, I listened and thought about what they proposed and at the same time I expressed my own ideas and opinion to them.

At one point, the situation in my country became difficult for different reasons.

After some discussions at home, we decided that the best thing to do was for me to leave the country in order to find better opportunities, earn some money and help them from distance.

I could have come back once the situation had improved. It was a very hard decision to take, my mother was really sad and from my side I had conflicting feelings: I felt excited and curious but  I was also afraid because this meant to leave my dear ones and walk alone in unknown territories.

I decided to leave because it was difficult for my family to earn enough money for all and I wanted to help them as soon as possible. I know some other guys who had to escape from their village due to violent conflicts. So we left for necessity and with specific objectives to achieve in a new place. However, when I arrived I realized that things were not that easy in the new country and it took me some time to adapt but after some time it got a bit easier. During all these experiences, from my departure until my arrival, I met good and bad people and had to live through many dangerous and risky situations. Some friends were even forced to do things that they didn’t want to do. When I saw all the bad things that can happen, I tried to understand how to solve difficulties, grasp opportunities and find solutions that were the least risky for me.

Explaining to the people around me where I came from, my culture and the customs in my home community was a good way for them to better know and understand me. It took me a bit because I didn’t felt like explaining my origins to everyone. But when I found persons with whom I felt comfortable, I talked about it and it was useful also to remind me of my roots and to better understand my own story. I also wanted to know more about the place I arrived at, so I asked a lot of questions about. In this way I realized that there are not only differences but also similarities between the people and our culture and traditions.