The story of José (fictitious name) is one of those that leaves anyone who listens to it with a broken heart. This professional nurse arrived in Spain last December after spending four years living in Colombia and eight in Peru, where he had previously emigrated from Venezuela due to the country's economic situation and his family's rejection. During his stay in Peru, he suffered an attack that left his face "unrecognizable".
As a result, he decided to emigrate to Spain in search of a safer life on a personal and economic level. First, he traveled to Madrid where he spent a few days paying for a hotel room that he had to leave due to its high price. After that, he made the decision to travel to Barcelona with the aim of seeking new opportunities and where he had some friends with whom he would stay. However, the landlady of the apartment did not allow anyone else to stay, so he had to spend his savings on a hotel again.
Finding himself in a critical situation, he decided to travel to Lanzarote in search of work, but he encountered several obstacles. "It is very difficult to register, there are no rooms available and I also had to pay for a hotel, but seeing that I was running out of my savings, I stayed two days sleeping on the beach in the cold," he says.
In his desperation to find a job, he began to ask and look for work all over the island, but without success. "A woman offered to rent me a room for 450 euros all inclusive and I paid her four months in advance because I preferred to go without food," he says.
A job where he was "enslaved"
José is currently an applicant for international protection, although he is not offered an appointment until next year. In December, shortly after arriving, he was offered a job in a now-closed juvenile center. According to his version, the person who hired him did so irregularly. "He told me that he would give me a job but that I had to say at all times that I was a volunteer and that he would reward me that way, that I could take it or leave it," he explains.
In addition to working without a contract, at the center they forced him to work from Monday to Monday from 11:00 a.m. to 08:00 a.m. the next day, without any days off and promising to earn about 800 euros per month. "I worked all of February without a day off and in March I decided not to go anymore because I had not been paid and I had no food or how to get to the center," he says. After working, he would go to the room where he lived to rest "four or five hours".
Thus, the center promised him "insurance for working there", something he never had. "The man who offered me the job promised that I could take some courses and also help me with my papers", but the reality is that they did not provide him with any of these things.
Faced with this situation, the affected person says that he went to the Arrecife Court to file a lawsuit against the person in charge of the center because he says that "they did not pay attention to him at the police stations". Currently, the former worker is living on the street, without a job and without a roof to live under. Of the money promised, he only received 800 euros for the three months he worked, despite asking several times to be paid for his services. "I am living on the beach, I am going through many hardships, I came to work, not to be taken advantage of," he says.
He also states that the "owner of the center blocked his phone number" and that he tried to go looking for him to talk to him but without success.
A critical situation
After being left without a job and without receiving what he was promised, José is now sleeping on a beach on the island for more than two weeks, without a roof to live under. In addition, he also suffered a beating by a group of individuals for which he had to be hospitalized. "They hit me on the head with a bottle, I was convulsing and they robbed me while I was walking through Arrecife," he recalls.
With his two suitcases on his back and the rest of them buried in the sand of the beach, the young man tries to overcome each day of suffering. "I have no one in Spain and I only ask for a job to get a room because I am psychologically unwell, I have even thought about taking my own life," he says.
In addition, he says that a woman gave him a small sign written in English to be able to beg on the street. "She told me to put myself in Puerto del Carmen, but I don't dare because I have never asked for money," he says through tears.
Now, José spends days without eating, which has caused him to lose a lot of weight. Thanks to the Flora Acoge and Calor y Café foundations, the young man can have lunch and dinner many days, but they cannot offer him a place to sleep, so he spends the rest of the day on the street. With regard to personal hygiene, he often showers in the facilities of Calor y Café, although when he does not arrive in time he does so in the beach showers.
The young man hopes that with the lawsuit he filed, he will be paid the rest of the money he is owed for having worked in the juvenile center but, above all, he wishes to be able to find a job and a roof under which he can live in a dignified manner. Just an opportunity to start from scratch and continue forward.
