Abdul

I am thirty years old, I was born in 1987 from Occidental Sahara (the Spanish section). I began working as a mechanic to help my family when I was fourteen years old. My dream had been to study medicine and become a professor, but I gave that up to provide for my family. I have seven siblings; four brothers and three sisters. My family and I lived in a rural area outside of the city where my father was a shepherd. At the age of fifteen, I was arrested because of the dispute between the Saharans and the Moroccans. By the time I turned twenty two, I decided to leave Sahara to avoid the constant conflict happening where I lived. First, I went to Spain and began working as a mechanic in Las Palmas, but ended up travelling to many parts of Spain looking for work. Being an illegal immigrant made finding a steady job very difficult. After six years, I left Spain after a friend told me that I could live as a “Political Protected Immigrant” in France. I have been in France for seven months now. Getting to Paris was a miracle because I first made it from Spain to the city of Bordeaux, but I was able to get a train ticket to Paris without being asked for any papers. I liked my life in Spain, it was an easy and good life, only being illegal made life difficult. My hopes are to build a life in France, to work legally as a mechanic, and to build a family.