SOURCES:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6262974.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6267238.stm


MARRIAGE
Rasuz left Nigeria for a new life - but is now back

Rasuz's story
Rasuz moved from Nigeria to Holland for love - she married a Dutchman. But she found life difficult there and now they have moved with their children back to her birthplace Nigeria.

The meeting with the man who is now my husband was arranged by a friend who had married a European. I fell in love with him immediately.

We started preparing to go to Europe.

My expectation was to settle down and make a lot of money, and send this money back to my brothers and sisters and my uncles and aunts.

Of course I was in love as well - but as an African, to go to Europe is the best expectation of you.

When I arrived in Holland, my first impression was that it was too clean for me. I did not like the cleanliness. It is not like that in Nigeria.

But then in Europe, I saw that everything is cleaned, even plant pots. It was a shock.

The thing is that when you go there, you have to learn to integrate. You have to study, you have to work, you have to make ends meet - and then you have to remember that it will take time to get where you want to go.

Most Africans want to rush there for money purposes. But in my case, I was in love.

Kindness

I was younger then, and I thought the land flowed with milk and honey. Like most Africans, I thought there was everything there you could get. I did not know it would not be like that.

It was a massive culture shock. There is no noise on the buses. This intimidated me. I wanted to shout to someone to rescue me from the silence in most areas in Europe.


When desperate Nigerians and Senegalese get stopped or die while trying to escape poverty in Africa, they only have themselves to blame
In Nigeria I had a job as a teacher. When I got to Holland I did not try to teach or go on with my profession. When you get there, you have to learn to speak Dutch first, and learn how the Dutch think and about Dutch culture.

I wanted to become Dutch. I also wanted to become white. I found I liked the cleanliness and their honesty and their kindness. There was a lot of kindness shown to me.

People in Africa will not like to hear me say I wanted to become white, but as a black woman I do not think that is wrong, because it would have helped with what I want to achieve from Dutch society.

I returned to Africa because my husband had to go back to a job there as a scientist. And I wanted to go back and integrate again in the society where I was brought up.

When desperate Nigerians and Senegalese get stopped or die while trying to escape poverty in Africa, they only have themselves to blame.

It is not the best in Africa. You have to be prepared. Dying as a peasant is better than being shown on TV halfway between life and death.

There is no shortcut to heaven. If you do not suffer for it, you will never get it.

You have to try to make ends meet first before trying to get to Europe. No-one will have time for you there if you don't have money.

My journey was a cycle. My life today is a happy one.


SENT BY GOD

The Reverend Evans Ifejiaku is from Nigeria, but he lives in Italy, where he believes he was summoned by God.

After his first effort to get into Italy was refused, he trekked through the Balkans to try again. He is now a legal resident with the ministry in Padova.

I was ordained a reverend in 1995 - and all through these years I have been working as a man of God.

Then the Lord spoke to me, and said it was time to leave Nigeria for the white man's land.

I bordered an Alitalia jet from Lagos. On reaching Rome I was refused entry, because I did not have enough money.

My only chance was to go to Yugoslavia and try to get to Italy from there somehow.

Flying boats

When we got to Belgrade, it happened that I was the only person they accepted. Every other Nigerian was turned back.

We walked from Yugoslavia to Macedonia, and from there to Albania. Out of 15 people, only five of us had the vigour and strength to reach their destination.


We had to remove all our clothes - we were only allowed on the boats in our underwear
When we got to Albania, we found ourselves in a hotel. That was where I met my first Waterloo - several armed men broke into the hotel, came in, took our money. They stabbed everyone.

We left Albania at about midnight. We used flying boats. At times, they lifted us almost six feet above the sea.

They landed with a smack into the water.

A polythene bag was given to us. We had to put any important documents in that. We also had to remove all our clothes - we were only allowed on the boats in our underwear.

It took us between four and five hours to get from Albania to Bari. But as God may have it, our journey was successful.

You can see from this that God does not tell lies.

CRAP. the oart about africa being dirty.
U have yourself to blame, makng money is easy in Nigeria

who cares