Ousmane Sangare recently turned 29. "I arrived in Italy on July 20, 2014," he said, after having been forced to leave his country, Mali. He first went to Algeria and then lived in Libya, before crossing the Mediterranean in a boat run by human smugglers, just as many migrants like him have done. He prefers not to tell the story of his sea crossing. He simply said that in the end, "I arrived in Sicily, in Messina. After two weeks I arrived in Rome, at a reception centre where I stayed for two years before getting papers". In Italy, Ousmane received humanitarian protection status, and after he left the reception centre he began to look for work. "First I trained as a pizza maker, then I did an internship, but they didn't hire me," he said. After an unsuccessful search for other jobs, Ousmane had no other choice but to travel towards Calabria to work in the fields as a farm labourer.
Difficult situation in Rosarno
"The situation in Rosarno is very difficult. Before going I knew it was a bad place, but I didn't think it would be like it was," he said. Ousmane left Rome by bus for Rosarno, in the region of Calabria. From there, to reach the farmworkers' area in San Ferdinando, he had to walk for some kilometres. "I lived in a shanty town there. In that area, there's a part with new tents and another one with shacks. I made a request to go into the tent camp, but sign-ups were already closed," he said. He was forced to live in a shack made of wood, plastic and cardboard boxes. Ousmane said the main problem for migrant farmworkers is that the pay isn't sufficient. "Even though the work is hard, if you're paid well you can do it," he said. But he said the pay is 25 euros for a long day of work, or 50 cents per crate of oranges, one euro per crate of mandarins. He started by harvesting kiwi fruit, then he moved on to citrus fruit. He said life in the fields is exceptionally difficult. "You wake up at 4 a.m. every day, you start work at 7 until the evening, and when you get back you have to get in line to take a shower. But people go there because they don't have any other opportunities," he said. "I stayed there for two months and didn't have any health problems," he said.
However, humanitarian workers said the health risks for migrants there are high, as they are exposed to the weather and infections due to scarce hygiene and precarious conditions. The risk of having to go back to the camps Ousmane no longer lives in Rosarno. "I came back to Rome on January 7," he said. "I don't work there anymore, but it's not certain that I won't have to go back, because if I don't find something else to do I'll have to leave again and work. It's hard to live without work. I don't want to go back, but if I don't find something else, I'll have to," he said. He said in the future he would like to become a cook, but said "we don't have a choice." "Right now I'm doing two jobs, including an internship at IKEA. If they should keep me after, everything will go ok, otherwise I'll have to go back to the fields," he said. He said despite the difficulties, a dignified life "depends on work: to rent a house, to buy something".
