Ali shares his story with us through the audio article presented by Migratory Birds in a mini-podcast.
My village is Tal, it’s in Mandi Bahauddin province in Punjab and my country is Pakistan. I left because there was hunger and the state is not helping us. In Pakistan you have to bribe for whatever job you want to do. You can’t focus on studying and you play all the time. That’s why I left.
Then I went to Tehran, and then I went illegally to Turkey. From Turkey I came to Greece. On the way it was very, very difficult. We had to stay hungry. We were beaten and our lives were in danger. That’s why I came, to make something, because in Pakistan there is hunger.
I have a little brother who I want to study to do something in his life, that’s why I came. There is no even food there, there is too much hunger in Pakistan. The state doesn’t listen and if you have a job they say “bring money and then I will listen to you”. There is fear for our lives because there you can easily be killed by anyone on the street.
In Tehran I was hungry and then I went to Turkey. There I was beaten up a lot and threatened for my life. At the border I got beaten up a lot… They told me that if I came back, they would kill me. But we didn’t lose our courage. I went to Turkey to cross illegally. I stayed in the camp for six months. I tried to cross about 25-26 times to get on a boat to Italy. Every time we were caught and I couldn’t make it and that’s why I thought of coming to Greece.
Finally, I came to Greece with great difficulty. Hungry through the forest we came here. People think we came here because we want to but we are forced to do so because of hunger. What I want to say is that they should give visas to make it easier for the suffering people who come.
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