After leaving his homeland to pursue a long journey toward Europe and after having survived kidnapping, slave trade and homelessness, this Book found in Barcelona a place where he wants to fight for his dreams and send out a message on the importance of never giving up.

“Unless you dare to listen to my story, you will never know about me”. This Human Book left his home country following the promise of what the TV and the media and everyone around told him about Europe: the promise of a better future.

After giving up his previous life in the pursuit of that promise, he could only see in disbelief to what extent the picture looks different once you get closer to it. One day, this book would like to reach out to the youth in his country to make them aware of the reality he had to face.

How does a refugee feel in Barcelona? Are all refugees the same? This book tells us about his process of inclusion from his arrival as a refugee from Syria to the reception and cohabitation with a Catalan family in Barcelona.

The son of an extended family in Ghana, growing in the countryside and uneducated, he was a former offender in the city streets. He was inspired by the TV to move to Europe, he travelled through Morocco to Spain.

The following Human Books were there in Barcelona Living Library:

My struggle for the defense of human rights began in Morocco, during my university stage. I’ve been part of a multiple activist’s movements and associations and I have staged countless protests and demonstrations to demand the rights of workers, migrants and women’s rights. Even today, I’m still fighting against racism and xenophobia here in Barcelona.

This Book tells the exciting story of the process of becoming hosts by the regular Catalan family, – from awareness rising to decision making and co-living together.

This Human Book lives a life full of travelling despite having a  chronic disease. The book is equipped with two citizenships, a Nordic character, and has recently found in Catalonia a new home.

After twelve years living in Catalonia, that has not proven to be enough for Lehbib to be considered a Catalan in his own right.

The Aliens Law has condemned him to a daily struggle against marginalisation and discrimination, by regarding him as an immigrant above anything else.

Its not easy to adapt to a new country, – need to be very strong. Travelling through Sahara to Libya. Learning writing, once in Spain. No papers -No Europe. Travelling around Europe.

A year ago this young Nicaraguan left his home. While still waiting for his asylum interview to take place, he continues to affirm his life amidst the contrasts of Barcelona and faced with an uncertain future. What once was a cultural shock, the ritual of sharing food around a table at specific hours of the day, is now a symbol of welcome and a comforting memory of the early stage alongside his foster family.

At age sixteen, he left his home and country in search of a life opportunity that wasn’t real. He arrived to Spain and felt everyone had lied to him. Now, the effort and struggle are a constant in his every day.

She came from the former soviet country and belongs to a linguistic minority. How she is identified in her society if different from how it is here, in Catalonia.

The experience of a young Peruvian married with a local that has blended with the hosting community. What is her perception on inclusion and how she deals with identity and senses of belonging.

Two parallel stories that coincide in a reception center. On one side, a unaccompanied minor and, on the other, a social care worker who, in a crucial moment of their stories, just needed a place to sleep.

This Book tells the exciting story of the process of becoming hosts by the regular Catalan family, – from awareness rising to decision making and co-living together.

Born in 1977 to a nomad family who were forced to flee their land from the armed conflict of Western Sahara towards the refugee camps in Algeria, where they live nowadays in the middle of the desert. He has lived in many different countries, from Cuba, through South Africa, all the way to Barcelona, where he currently lives. This is a
story that stems from art and culture of peace as tools for social transformation.

This Book arrived to Barcelona from Israel to study a postgraduate course and to find a job opportunity in accordance with her academic background. However, due to the lack of legal documents, discrimination and sexualisation, she found herself forced to take up precarious jobs.

Inclusion is often hard is middle size cities where the difference is perceived as a threat. The main prejudice associated to a young South-American lady is that in search of a local husband, when everyday struggle is to manage alone as a single mother with a teenage daughter.

Sometimes I feel bad when I remember the sacrifice of my friends travelling with me from Ghana that did not survive the trip through the desert and the sea to reach Europe.  But still keeping a positive about new opportunities in a new world.

In my country I was perceived as a “white” in my community and now, once in Europe, I experienced what is to be pointed out as native from America. Changing percepcions and realising how the white privilege works in different communities in Latin America and in Europe.