May Malimi is considered a vulnerable person but he has been left in a state of anxiety about whether or not he is to be evicted from Ħal Far along with 30 other migrants. 

With six days to go until the eviction of about 30 migrants from the Ħal Far Tent Village, hit-and-run survivor May Malimi is still anxiously awaiting confirmation from the authorities that he will be allowed to stay at Malta’s biggest open centre.

The 19-year-old from Chad was hit by a car and left for dead on the same road as the drive-by shootings in Ħal Far in April that led to the death of Lassana Cisse and the injury of two others.

Francesco Fenech, 21, and Lorin Scicluna, 22, the men who are charged with the drive-by shootings on Triq tal-Ġebel, are being charged with the hit-and-run too.

Three weeks ago Mr Malimi received an eviction notice along with around 30 others who arrived on the search and rescue boat Lifeline, notifying him that he had a month to find alternative accommodation.

Sources from the Home Affairs Ministry have, however, informed Times of Malta that Mr Malimi has been exempted from the eviction due to his vulnerability.

Asked why the teenager had not yet been informed of this, the sources explained that the Agency for Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS) was overwhelmed and had not got around to it.

Talking to Times of Malta, Mr  Malimi said he was very worried that he had not heard from AWAS directly, telling him that he was able to stay.

“I received the eviction letter three weeks ago, then I went to talk to an official and they said I had to leave. Now some people from NGOs tell me that I can stay, but no one from AWAS has come to talk to me,” he said with the help of a translator.

Sources at AWAS said the year-long window was necessary to ensure migrants did not crowd out facilities. The reception centres, they said, were meant to facilitate migrants’ transition into society and not provide permanent hospitality.

The majority of those facing eviction claim they cannot find stable employment due to their uncertain legal status and will be out on the streets in six days, since they will not be able to afford rent.

Dad, brother killed

A drawing of Lifeline made by one of the migrants who is being evicted.

May Malimi was 16 years old when he left Chad. His father and his brother were killed in a political conflict and he was forced to flee.

He travelled through the Sahara desert where he worked in gold mines to get by. Along with many others he was exploited.

“We weren’t paid. There was a lot of danger. I moved around to Niger, Tunisia and Libya.”

He chooses not to reply to questions about Libya.

“My brother is there at the moment... he is 14,” is all he says.

Mr Malimi made the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean twice in 2018, a year when 2,277 others attempting the same journey died or went missing.

The first time he was caught by the Libyan coast guard and put into a detention centre for migrants. The second time he was saved by Lifeline.

In Malta, he enrolled in English classes soon after he landed and looked for a stable job.

I wish to see my younger brother

Six months after his arrival, however, he was hit by a car in a road in Ħal Far and left in a pool of blood.

A couple of men happened to see him lying there on their way home from work and called the ambulance.

He was hospitalised and had to undergo an operation to reconstruct his shoulder that has left him in pain.

With no financial support after the accident he had to get back to work right away, he explains.

But his injuries have limited the work he can do.

“When I go to Marsa to look for work, I have to choose work which is light,” he says.

“It’s not always easy.”

For a boy who has lived experiences well beyond his years, he cracks a childish smile when asked what makes him happy.

“Dancing, not any kind though, a type of dance called ‘the body wave’. And my younger brother in Libya... I wish to see him one day.”