Fernando

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:39:30 +0000

Summary

Fernando, a Colombian writer came to Spain as part of a resettlement program run by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). He talks about trying to start his life again, and the isolation that he and many asylum seekers he met experienced.

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Fernando was living as a refugee in Ecuador when his persecutors from Colombia found him and beat him. He ended up in hospital, with three broken ribs, unable to talk, and almost blind. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) asked him to resettle in Spain, or in Cananda. He chose Spain because of the language, and soon found himself on a plane to Madrid.

When he arrived at the airport, the police told him, 'You have a valid passport, you can go'. But he had nowhere to go. From there began his struggle to find a new life for himself in Spain. With the help of NGOs he was assigned a flat with some asylum seekers - not recognised refugees like himself in Gerona. Here he lived with people from all over the world, and experienced at first hand the uncertainty in which they were living while they were waiting for their claims to be processed. One of his flatmates - a young man from Chechenya - committed suicide and another one from Senegal could not wait to flee to another country.

He is now living in his own flat. He is grateful for the support of the goverments and NGOs, but still feels vulnerable.

"I put on a mask, I never talked about myself, but the documents I have showed everyone that I was a refugee, a word that most people relate to crime. Sometimes I think it would be better to say that I am an undocumented migrant."

Refugee Stories Project - Latin America

Fernando

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