Fuenlabrada, Spain  - Nine years after he entered Spain, Chinedu James Ezeh is about to become a Spanish citizen.

The native Nigerian once faced death to cross the deserts of North Africa and sneak into Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast.

Today, he has many-sided work experience in Europe, a budding football career, sends money to his family back in Nigeria and is about to become a father.

"I know that many of the Africans who come here do not do as well as I have," he admits. "The journey alone is so hard that some lose their minds on the way."

Others fall victim to racism or lack professional qualifications suitable for the European labour market. Some are unable to cope with living far from their families in an alien culture and succumb to alcohol or drugs.

"No group has it as difficult as black Africans, because they face the most racism," Chinedu says.

After climbing into Melilla over the barbed wire that protected the border, Chinedu spent a month in a reception centre for immigrants.

He was then taken to the Spanish mainland, where the Red Cross helped him get a job as an agricultural labourer in Llerida in northern Spain.

Chinedu held a number of temporary jobs, from cleaning a restaurant to helping at a butcher's shop.

There were times when he had to sleep out of doors. But, gradually, he learned Spanish and made friends.

His football talent was valued, and he has played with KV Mechelen in Belgium and with Sabah in Malaysia.

Spain's deep economic crisis has now left him unemployed, after nearly two years as a messenger at an international express transportation company.

"Success is a question of two things: luck and character," says the young man, who shares a flat in the Madrid suburb of Parla with his Nigerian wife and a fellow countryman. (dpa)