Module 4-Unit 1-CaseStudy 1

Lemin, 16 from Gambia.

Lemin was born and raised in The Gambia where he lived with his mother, father and two sisters. He stopped going to school when he was 13 years old because his family couldn’t afford the school fees. When his father began beating his mother a few years ago, Lemin, his mother and younger sister moved out of the family home. They struggled to earn an income, so Lemin took up an offer to travel to Libya to get a job to support his family. In Libya, Lemin was told he would not be safe, so he paid a trafficker to cross to Italy by boat. Before getting on the boat the traffickers violently forced Lemin to take a compass and to navigate.

Based on Max Neef’s Human Scale Development matrix what are the needs of Lemin that are not satisfied?
Select the most appropriate ones from the matrix.

A week after reaching Italian shores, Lemin:

“You know, the lawyers, they say they are responsible for me because I am a child. They say ‘we can help you, so you can have something here’. So they found me a tutor, that tutor I can say is my legal guardian. So this is the person who goes with me if I have documents to process. But still, it’s not working. Because they don’t give me documents. So I’m living here like that … nothing. I can’t work, I don’t have documents … nothing. I don’t think these people will help me to stay here. So now I’m staying here. I want to stay here to get my papers.“

Based on Max Neef’s Human Scale Development matrix what are the needs of Lemin that are not satisfied?
Select the most appropriate ones from the matrix.

In my future, I just want to plan good things, because it’s not good like this, because you are here not doing anything. You have to have something for tomorrow. You have to do something here for tomorrow. I used to complain. I have been here for one year. I don’t have documents; I don’t have anything here. I have family back home, so it’s not good for me to stay here like this doing nothing here. On 14 September the school will open again, so I will start going to school. Because they say if I’m not going to school, they will not help me with documents.

Nobody has given me help here. I am here but nobody has given me help. I want to help my mother so she can be out of difficulty. My first priority is for that. I don’t have documents, so I haven’t had help. If someone can help me, I would appreciate it. I thought if I came here they might help me, but now I don’t know. But I thank God, because I can sleep and eat food. Oxfam has given us food and pocket money. Every Sunday we cook for ourselves. We cook our lovely food.

Based on Max Neef’s Human Scale Development matrix what are the needs of Lemin that are not satisfied?
Select the most appropriate ones from the matrix.