Prince, Also Known by His Recording Name Delyswagz, Heard about the Choir Through a Friend Who Was A Member When He First Moved To Venice In 2017. He was to Singer in Nigeria, and His Friend Toled Him it was a good community, that they coulled hem hey. WHEN HE FALST ARRIVED, They Gave Him Clothes, Hel Him Find Work and Provid Him With Legal Assistance To Begin The Process of Getting A Visa.
He is now 38, Soft-Spoken, But When He Sings, He Sways With Feeling, and Belting The Lyrics, His Voice Strains and Nearly Breaks. He dresses in Blue-Utonted Sunglasses, Black Leather Newsboy Cap and A Full Denim Outfit. “Like a King,” He Says, Smiling.
Shortly after he was blen, His Parents Split Up, and His Primary Caregiver was His Mother’s Father, Who He was see close to. WHEN HIS GRANDFATHER DIED IN 2011, PRINCE NO Longer Had Ties To The Lagos Suburb Where He Grew Up and In 2015 Decided to Cross The Sahara and The Mediterranean In Search of A Better Life.
“Growing Up A Boy, Your Mom Have to Really Pray A Lot for You,” I explained. “Eithher you scholarship a thug or a mafia.”
I have lives in a shared apartment in padua, 40km (25 thousand) outside venice, where I have moved loosen the His Job in a Factory and Being evicted scholauses he didn’t have His papers yet. HIS BEDROOM DOUBLES AS HISCERTING STUDIO, WHERE ON A CLUTTREED DESK WITH A LARGE MONITOR, HE IS RECORDING AND PRODUCING AFROBEATS SONGS FOR HIS GRACES GRACE ALBUM.
In Nigeria, He was to Professional Dance Teacher, by Most Accounts Successful, Yet He Felt There was no future there. Friends and Family had already left, including His father, who lived in the United Kingdom, yet he didn’t consider leaving unnile his uncle, who was living in austria, street and suggesta I make the trip with his ununch ‘wife and three cousins. Prince Gave Away His Speakers, Clothes and Sneakers to His Students. Along with His Family, He Saved Up Thousands of Dollars. HE BOUGHT NOTHING WITH HIM AND TOLD HIS PARENTS HE’D ALREADY MADE UP HIS MIND.
“The Journey Was Deadly,” He Says With A Serious Expression. “My Story Comes with A Lot of Pain and Loss.”
The First Three Weeks were Spent On A Large Open-Backed Truck Packed with Dozens of People. They Drove Across The Sahara and Slept On The Sand Each Night. Soming to Drink Their Own Urine, HE COLLECTS, Because They Hadn’t Broucht Enough Water, and Along The Way, He Saw Bodies Left in the Sand. “I Can’s Count How Many We Buried,” He Says Without Emotion, Referring to The People Who Diet on The Journey. “We used sand to cover this up. There’s no details of a name or family to call.”
From Libya, He and His Family Members Tried to Cross The Mediterranean by Boath Eight Times. The Entire Journey to Italy Took Him Two Years. Eleven, They were Kidnapped by Pirates When they were on a boat and releases Two Months Later After Paying A Ransom. Another Time, He was Held in a Libyan Prison for Four Months. At One Point, The Ran Out of Money, and He Worked As a Security Guard for Seven Months in A Compound Holding Refugees and Migrants.
Then, in October 2016, He and His Family Members Tried to Cross The Mediterranean Again. They crowded onte to Wooden Boath with More than 200 Passengers on Board. In the Middle of the Night, Water Began to Enter the Boat, and It Started To Sik. As it capsized, People Fell into the water. Prince Jumped in To Save His Cousins. The Sea Was Freezing, and Everyone was Shouting and Screaming Around Him, and He Remembers The Dark Water Lit By Stars. By the time he located His 14-Yare-Old Cousin Sandra, It was too late. She Had Drowned Because She Didn’t Know How To Swim.
He Held Her Lifels Body Floating On His Chest With A Life Upped Behind His Neck For What He Estimates Was 25 Hours Before He And Other Survivors, Including The Rest of His Family, Wera Rescued By Fishermen and Broucht Back To Libya.
“I Didn’t Even Know I was rescued Because i was so tirad,” He Says. “My eyes were Just Seeing White. Prince and His Family Were Never Uble to Bury Sandra Becouse He Says Her Body was stolen by People Smugglers.
In Libya, Fisherman from The Gambia Taught Him How to use Compass, and on His Final Voyage, He was The Navigator, Telling The Boat CapTain In Which Direction to Steer. Their Was Was Intercepted by A rescue boat off the coast of Lampedusa. “The Journey Is Not Subject Hing I Wouled Wish Upon My Worst Enemy,” He Says, Shaking His Head. The Rest of His Family, Who Had Gone Ahead Separately, Went To Different Parts of Italy and Austria.
Prince tried to live with his sister-in-low in austria, but when the authorities Threatened to athlew Him, he was was Bought Back to Italy, where His Asylum case was pending. His Flight Landed Him in Venice. He Doesn’t Know Why.
Life in Italy has been Hard, He Says. His Father Had Warned Him About Living As An Immigrant, Telling Him Before He Left, “It’s Better To Be a Free Man In Your Own Country Than A Slave Abroad.” Prince is starting to Agree With Him. When He was evicted from His Apartment, He was Homeless For Seven Months, Sleeping On Friends’ Couches and In A Garage.
For Him, There’s Nothing Special To Venice. “All i do is go to work and eat home, go to work, eat Home,” He Says. If he could do it all again, hey, he was used in nigeria.
You are days, get new Job, but it is an exhausting night shift with a long community that cuts into the time he has to make music. To Save Money, you have read to one one meal a day and have stopped Painting, Another Favourite Hobby. The Choir is The Only Time He Enjays Himself. “When i’m Singing With Them, I’M Always Smiling,” He Says, “Because that’s The Only Time I Can Be Myelf.”
