Day 7: I AM AN IMMIGRANT, THERE ARE SOLUTIONS TO THE CURRENT IMMIRANTS CRISIS.

Many of us have watched in the news about the outpouring of immigrants into Europe. Many of these immigrants have faced harsh conditions of travel, some of whom have lost their lives as in the case of the thousands upon thousands of immigrants that have died on the ‘waters’ of Italy for example.

Many consequences have been created with such an outpouring of immigrants into Europe. I talked to 2 immigrants now living in Switzerland (one on asylum and the other through marriage to a Swiss woman), one of the 2 came by cargo ship from the coast of Nigeria. He narrated to me how his living conditions had been back home, having 3 kids and no way to make ends meet in regards to having an income, he was forced to save the little that he was making each day over a long period of time (years) because believe it or not, these immigrants don’t get free transportation to Europe. They pay large sums of money amounting to thousand if not ten thousands of Euros. One of these 2 immigrants payed over €10,000 to the point where she had to settle down in Switzerland. Many may wonder why pay so much money and risk one’s life to come to Europe? Well, much of the money these two used was borrowed money with the hope of making a better income in Europe so re-pay back the loan. The other immigrant on Asylum came from a war tone country in Africa, she simply couldn’t survive there with her newborn child and being sick, so she gathered herself and her baby and off to Europe she came. She narrated to me that, she really wanted medical attention otherwise she would have died back in her war tone home either by being killed in the war or dying in sickness and she just couldn’t imagine her child’s life without her!

The 2 cases above depict the main reasons why immigrants leave their countries and come to Europe or other developed countries; to search for a better life in terms of earning a decent income to support their families or to escape war that many at times creates adverse consequences in a country for example, a deterioration in health care, education, poverty, displacement, disease etc. which makes the very survival of anyone threatened. Most of the human beings or life form on earth whether understood or not is currently fighting for survival in a world that has more than enough to support each and every living beings’ survival and thriving. So, where then is the problem? Why are masses ditching their countries for the ‘hope’ of finding a better life in another country?

Myself, I am equally an immigrant who moved to Europe because, I was at a point in my life where my very survival was threatened in terms of not having money. I did not have shelter that I could call home, I lived in my friends parents’ home. I barely had enough money to buy food, I couldn’t afford transport money for public transportation to attend a job interview or looks for a job. Many times, I had to choose either walking to the city to look for a job or attend an interview or buy food. One time, which was really the worst time that drove me to making the decision of migrating to Europe was when, I had just 10 Kenya shilling in my pocket (€0.10) and an orange. So here, I had to really calculate my decision with the food (the 1 orange) as well as the money, the 10 Kenya shilling. The money was only enough for transport during ‘non-rush’ hours and only half way to my destination. So I i knew that, I had to take the non-rush hour half way option and walk the rest of the way. This time I was going to a job interview. Coming back home, it was obvious, I had to walk. The hardest part was the food part because, with just one orange, I knew it was not enough to sustain my energy needs but this was all I had. So I decided to eat the orange as I walked back home because this would give me extra energy to walk the entire way to a ‘home’ that was not even mine.

This was my final Blow! My ‘hit rock bottom’ moments. So I decided to take the opportunity immigrating to Europe which in itself was quite a journey up till the point where I was now legally accepted to live and work here. A story for another day.

Unfortunately, this is not the only way that this immigrant’s crisis has directly affected my life. Last year, I tried to get my mother to come visit me in Switzerland as well as help me out with my newborn baby and spend time with my eldest child, her granddaughter. She is currently living in Oregon USA. They denied her a visa on peculiar grounds. It came as a big shock to her and myself, she was devastated, appealing was just a waste of money because the Swiss immigration did not accept my cousin to visit either. My mother has never physically been my children, her grandchildren. My children know her through skype but that’s just it. This happened because, I understand not, Switzerland has tightened its immigration laws so despite us providing all the evidence that they required from us to have a relative visit me here especially financially, they still said NO.

This immigrant’s problem is not going to go away on its own. Many countries have reacted to this problem in violent aggressive ways especially from the police. Immigrants are perceived as a threat to a countries economy, an economy is valued by its amount of money and we do know that, the more the immigrants, the more moneywill be used to solve the many consequences that come with having a largenumber of immigrants in terms of shelter, clothing, health care, education etc.  Many European countries are complaining that, they do not have sufficient funds to cater for all the immigrants needs. So humanitarians have stepped in to help but it seems like the support is not enough, can never be the end solution as many more immigrants will still risk their lives from all over the affected areas in the globe for a chance of a better survival in Europe or elsewhere.

For the EU countries to really solve this immigrants Crisis, a solutions must be brought to where the problem begins in the first place otherwise, the longer we ignore this, the worse it will become and it will not go away until the solution is brought to the people living in dire poverty where one can barely survive or in the war torn countries.

The equal Life Foundation has proposed a Living income to be guaranteed for every human being so that they can afford to live a dignified life that is free from the fear of survival which is the very fear that is driving immigrants to Europe. I would recommend everyone to investigate this proposal so we can work together in granting everyone an opportunity exist within an environment that supports every need that they require to survive in a dignified way, for is this then not ensuring that, human rights have been upheld in each and every corner or the world?

If I had a basic income guaranteed for me to meet my every need, I am certain that, my move to Europe would not have been in any way influenced my very survival being threatened. Am pretty sure if every persons needs were full taken care of within the provision of a living income for all, no one would wish to migrate from their home countries. so lets give a living income to everyone to support themselves within their home environment and the immigration crisis will end.