Photo by Navin Parray
He made the journey from Guyana to Trinidad in 1998. At the age of seventeen, Mikey was looking for opportunities and, like so many other Guyanese, looked to T&T as a land where money could be made.
When he was eleven years old, he wrote the Common Entrance exam. With limited reading and writing skills and a very short list of options, he went to work for a neighbour as a goldsmith. After a series of jobs, he settled into life as a machine operator at a rice company. By the time he turned seventeen, however, Mikey was not satisfied with this life.
His father had been living in Trinidad for over a decade when Mikey decided to join him. He left his mother, sister and two brothers behind. Leaving his mother had been a major sacrifice for him but he felt he had to do it. After six months in Trinidad, he got a job with the construction company where his father worked and, since then, has been doing various jobs as a labourer. He has, for the past five years, made his home in San Juan.
Deportation is always a concern for migrants, but Mikey does not worry much about it. "I always try to avoid trouble," he says. This is not always easy though. Last year, he and two other friends were walking along the road outside his apartment, when a group of army personnel attacked them.
Photo by Navin Parray
Mikey was hit with a gun butt three times in the back of the neck. When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying in the drain. The army men had been looking for another man, who had insulted one of the officers. Mikey was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Although he has been here for almost a decade, he is still not satisfied. He hopes to learn to read and write properly soon, as well as have his citizenship regularised. He also plans to buy a plane ticket for his mother to visit him.
Like many others, Mikey has found that the glittering promise of Trinidad and Tobago conceals a dark side, fraught with problems, as well.