phosphorusA variety of brightly colored fabrics filled the Naples studio, where Paboy Bojang and his team of four worked day and night to sew 250 cushions for their next client, The Conran Shop.
They will soon place their first orders to Selfridges and Paul Smith, and with the influx of unique ruffled cotton pads from all over the world, they will be busy in the coming months.
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The 29-year-old Bojang is one of thousands who have landed on the coast of Italy in the past decade. He fled the dictatorship of Gambia, witnessed the terror of Libya, and survived a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.He found solace in the south Italy, In a city where a warm embrace allows him and other refugees to thrive, even though the EU asylum system is not good for them.
“The first year was very difficult. In the second year, when I met more people and made friends who cared about me, I started to fall in love with Naples,” Bojang said. “I feel inspired here.”
His success is simply extraordinary. During the strict coronavirus lockdown in Italy in the spring of 2020, he felt frustrated and wanted to find something to do, so he started sewing. A few months later, he posted a picture of his first handmade mat on Instagram. This immediately caused a sensation, and as news filled his inbox, his household goods business, At Casa by Paboy, born in.
Today, he has hired three refugees to make cushions with a retail price of 160 euros, and a young Italian as the brand manager.
“This was completely unexpected,” he said. “My dream now is to grow the company and hire more immigrants. I want to show people that we are talented, we have knowledge, and we can create beautiful things. We shouldn’t just work on a farm with a low salary.”
Bojang was raised by his grandmother in his hometown of Serrekunda. At the age of 13, he was sent to work in a tailor shop run by his uncle, where he learned how to sew.When his grandmother died, he was still a teenager and he left EuropeBefore arriving in Tripoli, he traversed several countries by land, most of which were deserts, where he slept for 18 months.
“I slept on the street, in the garage, under the car… Libya was terrible, and I experienced a lot of trauma there,” he said.
Bojang paid three sums of money to the traffickers to get them to find a place on the ship to Europe. In the last attempt, he witnessed the passenger who tried to leave was shot and killed by the Libyan police.
“It is sometimes difficult to explain my experience in Libya, like a movie,” Beaujean said. “I have never seen such a terrible thing in my life. They don’t care who we are, as if we are animals.”
In 2015, Bojang stayed on a crowded, unsafe boat for nearly two days before reaching Lampedusa, Sicily. From there he went to Naples, where he lived in a dirty, crowded refugee center on the outskirts of Sicily for the first year. city.
He initially worked in a ceramic tile factory, but lost his job after the far-right leader Matteo SalviniAs the Minister of the Interior, he promulgated a law abolishing the humanitarian protection license. The two-year permit is granted to people who do not qualify as refugees but cannot be repatriated for various reasons, enabling people to find work and travel to another EU country for up to 90 days.Salvini’s move coincided with closure Many refugee centers across Italy have left thousands of people homeless and unemployed.
When Bojang met British journalist and documentary filmmaker Sophia Seymour outside Teranga, his life began to change. Teranga is an Afrobeat nightclub run by refugees in Naples. Seymour gave him a room in her house, lent him her sewing machine, and encouraged him to create.
She guided him to start a business, although Bojang is still waiting for his work permit to be renewed, which he hopes will allow him to travel to launch his product.
“Every step of the immigration system is unbearable,” said co-director Seymour Telanga, A documentary that explores the hopes and dreams of asylum seekers in Naples. “At first, it was a long wait for the documents to take effect, which made many people feel frustrated when they were young. So, if you want to set up by yourself, you need so many people to give you advice. It all costs money… you need to rely on So many people come to help you, which means relying on luck and kindness.”
Teranga is the launch pad for 22-year-old Mozeh Keita and his band from the Gambia Bulldozer gang, Its music has thousands of listeners on Spotify and YouTube, and is broadcast on British radio. Neapolitans love Keita, friends call him Bobby, when you walk through the city with him, his love is obvious. Many people stopped to say hello or give him a high five. When the band prepares for the next EP, he will be a chef to make ends meet.
“Music has always been my dream,” he said. “My lyrics describe my lifestyle, what I see, and how the system and the world develop. Every day is a different story: some days you wake up feeling cold, some days you feel anxious.”
Keita said he was very happy to come to Naples, the city made him feel safe, while most of the rest of Europe saw immigration as a threat. However, he realized that too many people were killed or trapped in the asylum system while trying to travel to Europe, unable to work legally or being exploited by their employers. “We are lucky to pass, but not everyone who comes can do it.”
Mame Thiafour Ndiaye is from Senegal and has lived in Naples for more than 12 years. As a music producer, he helped promote groups such as Dozer Gang and One Voice. “It’s not easy to live by music, we all do other jobs,” he said. “But in Naples, most people are very enthusiastic, so even if opportunities for immigration are scarce, we have this kind of peace.”
The 23-year-old Yankuba Fatty arrived in Italy by boat in 2017 and achieved the highest score in the exam to study medicine at the University of Naples, but was unable to attend the course because the permit he needed did not arrive in time. He later established an online language school, and now teaches English in a private school in northern Italy, while studying biotechnology. He said he was fortunate to find a “suitable chemical reaction” in Naples, including an Italian lawyer who helped him start a business.
“But obviously others will say the exact opposite,” he said. “Some people are unpaid and work long hours for employers who are not good to them.”
Although there are resources to help them, European countries have turned their backs on refugees, which confuses the fat man. “People leave their country not because they want it, but because they absolutely must do it,” he said. “They are ready to work, study, integrate and improve the economy, but they can only do this if they have the opportunity.”
“I would say: Open the door, help these people, and give them a chance to show themselves. They can improve your economy-these people are ready to work, ready to learn and integrate into society, but only if you give them the opportunity, they can do it. To this point.”
While having lunch at a Senegalese restaurant in Naples, Bojang reviewed his experiences over the past few years. “I think people have to keep their eyes open… Immigration is not a threat. We all have goals, dreams, knowledge… We are all human beings. People say that we are here to steal their jobs and their things. I say give people one Opportunity, try to help them learn.
“If you are an immigrant without a document or a job, you may live on the streets and sell drugs,” he said. “All of us here have skills, we have all gone to school-immigrants should be treated as people, as a resource.”
