Why people struggle to migrate to UK

 The house. 

You can be penniless and jobless and still live in a £1.3 million (about N325million) and earn weekly stipends all paid for by the government.

If truth be told, only few countries still look after penniless immigrants like the UK does.

The outrage generated among UK citizens by the news of an immigrant family who trashed an upscale residence allocated to them in London seems quite justified. And many prospective immigrants are seething with rage at the apparent frittering of golden opportunity by the controversial family.

Mother-of-seven Manal Mahmoud moved into the upmarket Fulham address almost three years ago, but have since been branded the 'family from hell' by neighbours.

The owner of the property says doors are missing, wallpaper has been ripped off, driveway tiles have been smashed, walls written on and furniture has been left strewn in the garden.

Mrs Mahmoud, who is in her late 40s, moved to the UK 12 years ago to escape fighting and political problems in her native Palestine.

But since she's settled in west London, neighbours have complained about their antisocial behaviour to the council and police. 



The upscale neighbourhood

'I deserve to live in a nice house and get benefits. I deserve this house because I am human. In this country, it is our right to live here. It is important for my kids to have space to play,' Mrs Mahmoud said.

All of her seven children, including five young daughters live at the address apart from her oldest son who is in prison for drug dealing.

But now she could face eviction after the landlord of the three-bedroom property, Sue Cummings, apparently found the home had been 'trashed'. 

'I am entitled to live in a house like this, even if I don't pay for it. It is fair that the government houses us,' she said.

'My family gives something back to the community. I know I have a son who makes trouble but that does not mean all my children are the same.

She added: 'All the neighbours are just complaining because the landlord rented the house to council tenants. They don't want a foreigner to come and live in this street.

 Hammersmith and Fulham Council said it may fight to evict the family at a court hearing on Thursday.

Deputy council leader Greg Smith said: 'We have warned this family that they face eviction if their appalling behaviour does not improve.

'There is a court hearing fixed for Thursday and we are working hard to resolve this matter.'

Why people struggle for asylum in the UK? It is because it is a society where the weak and poor are catered for by the strong and the rich. It is unfortunate that some elements are abusing the privilege.

Community where couples have sex in open fields

Typically overcrowded: Council flats in Mariannridge

Inadequate housing and the attendant overcrowding have ensured that many couples in a community in South Africa cannot be intimate with each other inside their flats. They make do with open fields, building staircases and similar places.

Residents of the mostly coloured community of Mariannridge outside Pinetown claim their council-owned flats are so overcrowded that when they start to feel frisky they head out into the open field.

Some have even bought mattresses for their nightly sojourns, to avoid being pinched or nicked by spiky shrubs.

When 28-year-old Jeanine Stanley wants to be alone with her fiancé, the veld is the place to be.

"Having sex in the field is the life for many people here. You have to choose your spot first. People have sex everywhere, but not in the flats because there are children," she said.

Like most residents in the area, Stanley's family members have been sharing an overcrowded flat since 2001.

"About 11 people stay in my family flat. I cannot have sex in front of my mother and children. When I turn, my hand touches my mother's bed. So every time when I need privacy with my fiancé the open field becomes our first choice," she said.

Most couples share the same houses as their in-laws, with some families sharing their two-bedroom flats with up to 17 people.

When a couple feels the urge, Stanley says, they pick up their mattress - which they leave outside the flats during the day as there is no space for them inside - and venture into the field.

The next hurdle is to "pick a spot" to be alone in the field.

The people of Marrianridge who were moved there in 1976 through the apartheid government's Group Areas Act.  They are now agitating for improved housing condition.

For the past three weeks the community has protested violently against service delivery backlogs by blockading roads with burning tyres, shattered glass and bricks, and uprooted street signs.

Community leader Brain Charles said the community was squashed into about 80 units of flats. When the area was initially established, it contained about 600 units.

Charles added that most teenage pregnancies in the area also happened in the open fields.