Moscow is the capital city of Russia. Most of the people were living in hardship there, because the government of the time was communist. Some people had a high standard of living, while others were living in poverty.

Personally, I had the worst experience in my life there. I arrived in Moscow in December 1992. At that time Moscow was in bad condition because of lack of stability and there was conflict between the communist government and the opposition leaders who wanted a democratic government.

When I arrived there prices were inflated and I had not enough money. So what happened after my arrival?

Though I did not have any friends or any relatives and there was nobody that I could rely on, I started to get by, by myself. When I arrived at the airport the Police caught me immediately and asked me for a visa and I told them quietly my plan was not to travel to Russia but I was going to Finland. I was only in transit in Moscow.

The Policeman couldn't understand English at all. He told me, "Let's go I want you to see the Police and the Immigration Officer." I went with him to the Immigration Officer. The officer asked me for my passport angrily. He said "where is your passport, your transit visa and your entry visa?" He scared me the way he asked me, and I showed him my passport politely and my entry visa. He asked me eventually again "where is your transit visa?" I replied, "I don't have one sir because I will be staying here for only two hours." He cooled down and said "I want to check your visa because several days ago I saw many Somalis holding fake visas and travelling to Finland." I nearly collapsed with fear because I knew my entry visa was fake.

After a couple of minutes three Policemen snatched me away without asking me anything and sent me to jail straight away. I was in a remand jail for twenty eight days. I spent a ÔMerryÕ Christmas in 1992 and ÔHappyÕ New Year in 1993 in a small room where it was really hard to sleep because it was tiny, crowded and dark.

On the 14th of January in 1993. I appeared in front of a court as a criminal. It was a new experience for me. After a while I heard my name over the microphone and I stood up and the judge started reading a charge with a speech that lasted only two minutes.

After he finished everybody in the court glanced at me with angry faces. I asked forgiveness from the judge. All the people laughed at me at once, because I was speaking English and the people could not understand what I was talking about. I continued crying and feeling embarrassed and the people still were laughing and the judge started laughing at me and I too laughed.

Then the judge banged his hand on the table to stop people laughing, to make them pay attention. He called me and I moved towards him. I stood in front of his table feeling awkward. He said to me "good morning", in Russian language which is 'Kigdila' I replied to him 'kigdila' which I had learnt in jail. Really I could not speak any more of the Russian language. The judge started talking to me in Russian and asked me some more questions. I told him "Sir, I don't know this language", the judge could not speak English to me and I couldn't speak Russian.

According to communist law, judges may not talk any language other than Russian. After the judge looked at my age and the situation in my home country, Somalia, he allowed me to go free and live in Moscow until I had another place to go. But the real problem now was how to survive the harsh life on the Moscow streets.

Luckily for me, there was new political and economic liberalisation in Russia. There were a lot of small businesses run by foreigners. I met an Indian newsagency owner and I explained my problem to him. After that he allowed me to sell newspapers. He suggested to me to take the morning papers around the streets and hotels.

After three months, I became a very famous newspaper boy and I had a lot of customers every morning. Everybody seemed interested to read the Moscow Daily Telegraph.

Finally, I escaped that hard life and went back to Africa. I knew the world would change. After a while I had a lucky chance to come to Australia, so now I live in West Heidelberg.