The story of Ibrahim Story · installations and exhibitions: LSYTSDA Sala Alterarte
Position · 0:00 / 19:00 SubtitlesOff ES EN GL Transcript 0:00 My name is Ibrahim Adamou. My first name is Ibrahim and my surname is Adamou. 0:05 And I am from Cameroon, 0:09 in Central Africa, the largest 0:14 country in Central Africa, Cameroon. 0:18 I have been here in Spain for three years now, 0:23 because I arrived in 2023, on 6 February 2023. 0:29 First I arrived in the Canary Islands, in 0:33 Lanzarote. I stayed in Lanzarote for three days. 0:37 After Lanzarote, I spent a month in Las Palmas. Then 0:43 they sent me here to Galicia, on 23 March 2023. 0:49 Since then I feel like a Galician, and for 0:53 now I am going to live here and study. 1:01 I just remember when I left 1:06 home, because my father's wife was there. 1:10 She called me to buy a 1:14 nappy for her son, my little brother. 1:17 I told her, wait, I am coming, wait, I am coming, give me two minutes. 1:23 It was a Friday. I left then, and 1:26 to this day she has never seen me again. 1:29 So I left. When I did not come home 1:34 to sleep, she was worried and kept calling me. 1:38 My phone was switched off because I had already made my own decision. 1:44 But I left home without taking clothes or anything. I left 1:50 in the clothes I was wearing, without a backpack, without anything. 1:56 That was how I left, before leaving Cameroon, 2:02 because I went straight to the bus station. 2:07 Step by step. During my journey, because it is not 2:11 easy, I had to stop in some places to earn something. 2:16 That was not easy either, because not everyone could accept me, hire 2:20 me, take me on or risk having me work for them. 2:25 Something could happen to me. And because of my age, 2:28 too, because I left home when I was 13. 2:31 Some people were afraid. But I always say thank God, and 2:37 thank those who gave me a hand, those who helped me. 2:42 Because of my age, you know, people would 2:45 sometimes say to me: you are very young. 2:48 When I see you, I think of my son who is at home. 2:51 We have to help you and give you something that will not tire you out or hurt you. 2:57 And to this day, this luck, 3:01 this blessing, has stayed with me. 3:06 From there we tried to find work, 3:09 and we found work and earned something. 3:12 Not that much, not that little, 3:16 enough to be able to keep going. 3:19 From there, from Mali, we tried 3:24 to reach Algeria, and Algeria... 3:28 No, first we stopped in the desert of 3:32 Niger and Mali, which is the Sahara Desert. 3:35 It is also in Algeria, in between, the 3:38 Sahara, the largest desert in the world. 3:41 There we also lost a companion. I do 3:45 not know whether he was from Guinea-Bissau or Guinea-Conakry. 3:48 The boy was very tired, ill. In the end, 3:52 he did not have the strength to go on. 3:56 There were more than 20 of us, and 3:59 we could not wait for one person. 4:03 We tried, we tried to see, to give him a hand, to give him water. 4:06 Because there is no food there to give you strength, something 4:11 natural. Only water and dates that we can carry, and biscuits. 4:15 That is how life is, you know. His 4:20 life ended there. We left him like that. 4:25 We did not know his family, anything about him. 4:29 We had no contact to call his family and tell 4:33 them that this person, today, right now, is no longer alive. 4:36 So we left him there, covered 4:41 him with sand and kept going. 4:45 We reached Algeria, the first 4:50 city in Algeria, called Tamanrasset. 4:54 There in Tamanrasset I also tried to 4:58 work and earn something with my companions. 5:02 Now we had to cross the sea. We had 5:06 to work to earn something so we could pay. 5:10 So they would put us in the boat to get there, to make the crossing by boat. 5:15 We managed to earn almost 500, because they 5:19 were asking for 500 and something per person. 5:23 But as I remember, I did not have 500. I 5:27 was close to 500 and they helped me out. 5:31 Then we went to Tan-Tan, a 5:35 city in Morocco called Tan-Tan. 5:38 It is the desert where there is also the sea. We walked 5:44 all night in the desert with our boat on our heads. 5:50 Crossing and also trying not to get caught by the police there. 5:53 Because if the police catch us there with the boat, 5:56 first comes prison, because what we are doing is illegal. 6:00 But we have to accept it, yes, we know that it is illegal. 6:04 But we are not doing it because we want to, or because we 6:08 want to hurt anyone. Everyone is trying to find a life for themselves. 6:12 Then when we tried to reach the sea, 6:17 after that whole journey, tired from everything. 6:22 And my companions, because there were three 6:27 boats, groups of 43, 44 and 46. 6:32 No, 47, because there were 47 people in my group. 6:36 Suddenly, some of us realised that 6:39 the weather was not good. 6:42 We had to wait. We had to go back 6:46 to a place where we had been hiding before. 6:50 To wait for good weather to cross in the boat. 6:54 Because we knew that if we tried there, it 6:57 would mean death for everyone, no one could survive. 7:01 Only if God wanted someone to survive there. 7:04 Because you could see the storm, the wind. 7:08 You could see how the water carried things away. 7:12 So I did not get in. Those who felt brave got in. 7:17 All we saw was something moving around like 7:22 this. The storm goes boom-boom, you know, the wind. 7:26 The boat with 43, 44 people, nobody in it came 7:31 out alive. Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody came out alive. 7:36 Afterwards we went into the sea 7:39 to recover our companions' bodies. 7:42 But I always remember one girl there. She 7:44 was from Cameroon, and we met there. 7:46 I remember that the girl was 7:50 called Evelyn. I always remember her face. 7:53 I still have her photo. I do not know whether 7:57 her parents know anything, whether she is alive or not. 8:00 Because I do not know her family, I have no way of contacting them. 8:04 Then we waited for a few 8:07 days. After that time, November and December. 8:10 We had to wait out there in the 8:15 desert for two months and a bit. 8:20 We waited there, but we would go to buy biscuits, water, biscuits, water. 8:24 We were only having biscuits, water and 8:28 some fruit there from November until February. 8:31 Then our luck came too, 8:35 and we could try again. 8:38 We were living there, getting on with life and making 8:43 another plan to try to cross, to get here. 8:48 We came on 3 February 8:53 2023. Yes, the third, the second 8:58 or third of February 2023. 9:04 We got our boat ready with 9:07 46 people and two boys, children really. 9:11 One was ten years old, the other nine or eight. 9:15 And three girls and a woman who was pregnant. 9:19 All the rest of us were boys. 9:22 We went in and put the boat into the sea, into the water. 9:27 We tried to push it to get it going. 9:30 Because the two little boys, the three girls 9:33 and the pregnant woman had to get in first. 9:36 Because we are boys, we can struggle, fight, 9:41 jump, and whoever is left alone is left alone. 9:45 I have always been a very brave person. I always think of 9:50 others before myself, so they can try to get in first. 9:54 While we were pushing and pushing, I saw everyone jumping in. 9:58 At one point I saw the level the water was reaching, you know. 10:01 I saw that I had to jump in too, because 10:04 if I did not get in, I would be left there. 10:07 I grabbed the boat, because there was a rope there. 10:11 Some companions from Senegal gave me a hand 10:14 to pull me up, to get aboard. 10:17 We spent three nights there, in that boat. 10:22 Rescue came at around ten in the morning 10:25 in a very large boat to pick us up. 10:28 We were very lucky because our 10:32 boat already had a puncture. 10:35 The air was escaping, one side moved, and all of 10:40 us on that side were on the other side. 10:44 It was sinking little by little. They arrived at the very last minute. 10:50 Because we had no life jackets, we had nothing, only 10:54 the water around us, no food, no drinking water. 10:59 Everything God does is good, and we have to accept it. 11:02 They came in their very large 11:05 boat to pick us up. 11:08 They took us to a very large 11:11 centre, all the boys who were there. 11:14 They gave us a change of clothes, food and water. 11:19 I like Spain. I do not want to tire myself out any more going from place to place. 11:24 I want to stay here to study and build my life. 11:26 To earn what I can here and try to send 11:30 something to my family in Cameroon to help them. 11:34 I went to see my guidance counsellor and told him: 11:38 teacher, honestly, I do not want to carry on with this. 11:41 I want to do some training, 11:45 something like vocational training, to learn more. 11:49 I will tell you the truth. It is not 11:51 that I do not like studying. I like studying. 11:54 But I think the language could make it a 11:59 bit harder for me if I take a course. 12:05 I am eager to do something with my hands, to 12:09 learn how to do what I want to do. 12:13 I will learn the language too, but that will make it harder for me. 12:16 I told him that. He asked what I wanted to 12:19 do. I said that, honestly, I wanted to work in construction. 12:22 He said, Ibra, you know construction is good, 12:25 there are jobs, but it is tiring too. 12:28 People always work outdoors, in the heat, the cold, the rain, all the time. 12:34 He told me, his name is [unclear], he said: if it were up to 12:39 me, if I had a son like you, I would tell him to study electricity. 12:45 There are lots of jobs in that nowadays too. It is less tiring, 12:50 and you do not work out in the rain or things like that. 12:56 I told him, all right, that sounds good to me. 12:58 He said: try it for a year. Whether you like 13:02 it or not, you have your whole life to change. 13:05 I said, yes, teacher, you are right. Try and see what happens. 13:09 I came here and tried. My first year 13:13 went well, with the teachers' help too. 13:17 They have kept helping me since I started 13:20 studying here in Spain, here in Galicia. 13:23 All the teachers I have met 13:27 are people who always care about me. 13:30 And the people at home, my educators and my companions too. 13:34 Thank God, I have very good 13:37 people around me who support me. 13:41 Parents and friends who always support me and care about how I am doing. 13:46 Now I am in my second year and 13:51 doing my work placement. I am happy and content. 13:55 When I arrived here, after a few months, 13:59 less than two months, I had learnt some words. 14:03 Where I live, at the centre, with the 14:06 family I am with, my companions were amazed. 14:09 This boy has only just arrived and he speaks like that. 14:14 I thought I was a professional speaker, you know. Then my level dropped. 14:20 I used to study verbs a lot, you 14:24 know, because my housemates helped me so much. 14:28 Verbs, all the time. I was always colouring things in, reading lots of things. 14:32 It is partly my fault too, when I 14:35 see that my level was dropping a little. 14:37 I had reached a level where 14:40 I was speaking well, people told me. 14:43 I would say: I know it now, I do not have to learn any more. 14:46 Now I have to go back, keep learning and keep speaking. 14:48 And friends out on the street, at parties, you know. 14:53 Like right now, talking to you, that is learning too, you know. 14:58 When you speak a lot, you speak 15:03 more, and learn more about speaking and 15:08 forming verbs, conjugation and things like that. 15:13 And the verbs here in Spain, wow, I 15:17 have never seen a language like it for verbs. 15:20 So many verbs in the Spanish language. 15:24 Well, I honestly like Galician culture too. 15:26 I am not saying I like it just because I am here. I really do like it. 15:30 Because it is a culture that 15:33 respects people. And the Galician festivals. 15:37 The churches here, the sculpture here, those 15:40 are things I love, things I like. 15:44 I like visiting and seeing old things too. 15:49 Galicia is a place I like. Galicia in general. 15:55 And Galician people too. There are bad people, you know. We cannot judge everyone. 16:01 But for me, if, for example, I have 20 Galicians behind me. 16:06 For example, 18 of them are very, very good people who treat me very well, you know. 16:12 As for the others, what can I say, if they behave badly or something, 16:16 I cannot judge. It does not matter to me, it is not what counts. 16:20 If the majority already support me and care about me, that is enough for me. 16:25 What I am saying is that Galicians 16:28 are very good people, very nice people. 16:32 They always give a hand to those of us who 16:35 have just arrived to build a life, you know. 16:38 If you are a good person, trying to achieve 16:41 what you want, they will give you a hand. 16:44 Perhaps you might be a person without regular status, 16:48 but that does not come into it, you know. 16:52 That is from my experience. 16:56 My experience with Galicians has 17:00 always had many positive things. 17:04 If I speak negatively, I think God will be angry with me too. 17:08 But really, we have to tell the truth. Whether I 17:13 like it or not, for now my home is here. 17:18 Because this is where I live. I am living here. 17:22 If something happens to me, I do not think my 17:24 mother can come from Cameroon to here right away. 17:27 The people who live with me will be the first ones there. 17:33 For now, I consider it to be here. 17:36 If someone does not want it, or says it is 17:40 not my home, that is up to them, you know. 17:44 But for me, in my mind, in my opinion, my home is here. 17:48 Because I eat here, I sleep here. I do not sleep in Cameroon right now. 17:51 I sleep here, eat here, study 17:54 here. That is my opinion. 17:58 My dream involves three of my educators, you know. 18:01 To travel and go to Cameroon in the future. 18:05 With the three of them, whose names are [names unclear]. 18:10 It is my dream to take all three together. I have other 18:13 dreams too, you know. But step by step, little by little. 18:16 My dream is for them to see where I was born, where I lived. 18:22 Where my mother, my parents and my siblings 18:25 lived. What the place is like too. 18:28 This is one of my big dreams here. To get 18:33 a job and earn the money to take them there. 18:37 One week, two weeks, and then come back. 18:41 I believe I will achieve it because I 18:43 believe in myself, and I believe in God too. 18:46 Thanks to God and to the people who care about 18:49 me, who supported me, you know, both mentally and physically. 