Surprising Europe

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Overview

Ssuuna Golooba used to work as a Photo journalist in Uganda before he decided to go to Europe to seek his fortune as an undocumented migrant. He had to find out the hard way that pastures in Europe are not as green as they seem to be. Ssuuna ended up living in anonymity of an undocumented migrant for more than five years. He survived on the scarce income he generated by doing irregular cleaning jobs. Ssuuna was in Holland in 2005 when a fire broke our at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam, an accident that reached international headlines. Eleven undocumented migrants, who were kept in captivity before their deportation by airplane, died in the fire. Many more were injured. This event was a turning point in Ssuuna's perception of Europe. He could have never imagined that a disaster of this scale could take place in wealthy, well - organized Europe. "Many people sell their assets in the name of traveling to Europe to make a fortune over night but I want to warn them that the Schiphol incident was one in many that are not even know." Ssuuna said. The blast triggered his almost departed instincts as a journalist: In a way it opened his eyes to the miserable situation he was in himself. Now he could clearly see that his life was trapped between false expectations of Europe and too high expectations of his family back home in Uganda. How could he convince his family of the difficult situation that undocumented migrants like him were in, deprived from any rights, protection and opportunities.