They Were The First

Directed by Kaspars Goba

In 2006, seven confused Somalian refugees found themselves in the middle of a park in Riga, a modern capital in a member state of the European Union. As they had overstayed their time limit at the national centre for illegal immigrants, the authorities had no strategy for how to deal with them, so the seven refugees were simply let go. They had no identity documents and no money. They didn’t speak the language. They didn’t even have a legal option for leaving Latvia. Two of them were underage. The seven Somalians found help and a place to stay in Latvia, but not through official channels. The Somalian protagonists in this film ended up choosing separate paths. Some of them have left Latvia and moved to a more welcoming country. Some have chosen to stay – they have learned the language and enjoy living in Latvia. The case of the seven Somalians is an extreme example of how unprepared Latvian society is for the upcoming increase in multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, and migration.