Hello. I am Burama's mother. My husband (Hassan) and myself are citizens of the "Republic of the Gambia" that's its official name. We came to Spain to find a better life since we didn't see much future for Burama and our other children in Gambia. There, we lived in Banjul, which is the capital; although I was originally from Brikama and my husband from Baskau. We still miss our small country with its tropical weather, its coast, the river Gambia, or even our neighbours from Senegal, the country next door.

Some people in Spain have a bad impression of Gambia. In 1998, some Spanish sailors were imprisoned in Gambia accused of illegal fishing. They were there for more than three months, and once they got home they said they had been treated badly. At the time, people here in Spain who knew that I was Gambian treated me as if I was responsible for what happened, some even insulted me! I think that each person has to be responsible for their own actions, not those of the fishing authorities of a country they left years ago!.

About our migration experience, my husband came first and when he saw there were some good opportunities we all came. I have had temporary work, sewing dresses and other things, and cooking. Now I work in a tailor's firm. My husband works loading and unloading lorries full of vegetables. He is strong and can do a lot of work, so his bosses are pleased and happy with him, but he's really being exploited anyway. It's better than Gambia, but we don't get paid much.

We send some of our pay to close relatives in Gambia. We wish some of them could come to Spain one day too, since we miss all our family a lot. We wouldn't have abandoned our country if we had seen some future there.