Deported Esiovwa family: "Completely alone" in Nigeria

Created: 09/25/2022, 20:00

By: Christiane Breitenberger

Unhappy: The Esiovwa family lives in a house in Nigeria after their deportation.

There is no secure power supply there, nor is there internet.

© Private

In July, the Esiovwa family and their three children were deported to Nigeria.

But what happens after the plane has landed – in a country that is completely foreign to the family?

A conversation with father and daughter shows the problems they have to contend with on site.

Karlsfeld/Lagos

- "We still don't get along well, we fight every day", is how Nicolas Esiovwa describes the situation for his family in Nigeria - a country that has his three children Claudia (6), Gabriel (10) and Stefanie (11) don't know and he left himself more than 20 years ago.

The children are tired.

Constant.

And no longer happy.

It has been 76 days since the Esiovwa family was picked up from their apartment in Karlsfeld at night and deported to Nigeria.

The family's case caused a lot of excitement in the Dachau district, hundreds of people demonstrated, and a fundraising campaign was launched.

The goal: to bring back the well-integrated family.

But while outrage raged in the county, the family was forced to find their way around Nigeria.

The family could not find an apartment in Lagos, where they landed.

"It was far too expensive," says Nicolas Esiovwa.

Because the family couldn't afford it any other way, they had to move to the delta.

"It takes about as long as getting from Munich to Berlin," says Esiovwa.

The main problem is the "catastrophic road, on which they often kidnap people.

It is only by the grace of God that one can cross this road without being kidnapped".

Almost all family members are ill, medical care is poor

They call their apartment, in which the Esiovwas lived for years in Karlsfeld, home.

They don't feel comfortable in the house that the Esiovwas have now rented in the delta.

The big problem: There is no electricity.

"We had to buy a generator, which was very expensive," says Esiovwa.

The electricity problem also affects Gabriel's health: he has problems because of his asthma.

If he wakes up at night, "we can't help him like we can in Germany".

There is no electricity for everything.

"We've already had to buy two inhalers because he's having such trouble breathing."

But the father himself is also doing badly, which he only admits after many inquiries.

The medication that "helped him so well in Germany because of his autoimmune disease, I don't get it here".

His legs are sometimes so swollen that it "forces him to his knees".

He cannot afford to go to the doctor, there is no health insurance there – like many other things he knows from Germany.

The drugs, the painkillers he gets there "are dangerous for my liver".

One reason he doesn't like to talk about himself is because he's "a lot more worried about his wife and son."

His wife still has severe abdominal pain.

She was already being treated for this in Germany.

“Three times a week she goes for treatment.

Maybe they want to operate on her here.

That scares us,” is how Nicolas Esiovwa describes his wife's condition.

The children have been going to school for two weeks now.

But that, too, causes Nicolas Esiovwa several concerns.

The way to school is about three and a half kilometers long, there is no bus or anything like that.

Because the road is “unbelievably dangerous”, Nicolas Esiovwa accompanies his children to school every day.

But daughter Stefanie doesn't like it there.

In Germany she had good grades, her teachers praised her for her commitment in class, she enjoyed going to school.

Everything is different in Nigeria, the eleven-year-old explains on the phone.

“You can't really learn anything there, the children don't listen, it's very difficult to concentrate.” In addition, “the school uniform costs so much money.

That worries me."

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Nikolas Esiovwa doesn't just have to pay for his children's uniforms, the school itself also costs money.

In addition, there is no suitable school for his son Gabriel, who received care that met his needs in a day care center in Karlsfeld.

"Every evening we pray that we can go home again," says Stefanie.

When her younger siblings are sad and homesick, the eleven-year-old comforts them.

"Don't be sad, you'll definitely see your friends again," she always tells them.

She herself sometimes writes with her friends, "who miss me very much".

After the deportation, the Bavarian Refugee Council set up a donation account for the family.

But the money won't last much longer.

"It won't be until the end of the year," says volunteer Nanette Nadolski.

All expenses that the family has to deal with are currently covered by this donation account.

“We know that without the people at home who support us, life here would not be possible for us.

We couldn't buy food, we had no electricity, no house, the children couldn't go to school - that's why we pray every day for everyone who helps us," says Nikolas Esiovwa.

When he talks about home in this context, he means Germany and the friends he had to leave behind here.

"People in Germany are good people," says Esiovwa.

He liked his community in Karlsfeld, people knew and liked each other in the neighborhood.

In Nigeria, on the other hand, “we are completely alone”.

Nikolas Esiovwa also misses his work in Germany.

Before the deportation, his employer emphasized several times how much he appreciates Nikolas Esiovwa.

There, in Nigeria, “I just can't find a job.

I could only drive a taxi, but that's only possible if you have a car.

I've tried everything."

Many people in the district have by no means forgotten their families.

A network of helpers is currently trying to find a solution so that the Esiovwas can return.

support for family

Anyone who would like to donate to the Esiovwa family can do so via the following link: ww.betterplace.org/de/projects/111557-familie-e-aus-karlsfeld-soll-wiederkommen.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Dachau newsletter.