Theophylline Mulbah has had a protracted journey to Tunisia, however he’s discovered hope — and music — alongside the best way.
Theophylline Mulbah is in no rush. “I’ve issues to do right here,” he says from a rain-soaked alleyway in central Tunis. “I’m critically pursuing my musical profession. I’m a rapper.”
Two years in the past, Mulbah left his residence in Liberia in West Africa and took his time travelling earlier than arriving in Tunis in August. Mulbah moved by means of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali and Algeria on foot, spending a while in every nation as he raised funds for the following stage of his journey.
His longest keep, he says, was in Algeria — a go to that lasted a yr and 4 months. “There have been so many issues and experiences I wished to get acquainted with, so I needed to keep for a while.”
“I did a few songs in Algeria, and I’m planning on doing a pair extra right here,” he says of his music. “I’ve a great recreation, and I do know that my recreation will do me properly. I’m a hip-hop rapper. I discuss my previous, my current, issues I really feel troubled about, my scenario, my childhood.”
Whereas some folks within the alleyway are fleeing battle and revolution, 28-year-old Mulbah says a failing financial system and excessive inflation led to his flight.
“I began dreaming of bettering myself and gathering cash,” he says. “I utilized for a Schengen visa for France however couldn’t get hold of it.” After a couple of failed functions, he determined to journey by highway, realizing the journey can be tough however hoping his Liberian passport would see him by means of.
“After I acquired to Algeria, I got here to grasp that it wasn’t what I believed,” he says of the each day difficulties confronted by hundreds of foreigners there with out documentation. “I began gathering data on how I may proceed my journey [to Europe via Tunisia], and my mates would inform me, ‘That is the method.’”
Since arriving in Algeria and Tunisia, racism has been a each day downside.
“That’s one thing I had anticipated and ready my thoughts for. In no matter atmosphere you end up in, you both give up or abide,” he says, “So I made a decision to come back and abide.”
This text is the fourth of a five-part sequence of portraits of refugees from completely different international locations, with various backgrounds, sure by shared fears and hopes as they enter 2024. Learn the first, second and third elements right here.
