A group of Sub-Saharan African men are playing bingo in a conference room of a hotel near the northern Spanish city of Le\u00f3n.<\/strong><\/p>\n They laugh and celebrate when their numbers are called out, but many of these asylum seekers have harrowing stories.<\/p>\n Among them is Michael, who fled Ghana to escape a violent feud that saw his sister and father killed. After travelling by land to Morocco, he paid a trafficker who put him on an inflatable boat crammed with people which took him to the Canary Islands.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so happy, because I knew all my troubles, and the people trying to kill me, were behind me,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause once you are in Spain you are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n In Ghana he worked as a petrol pump attendant and a storekeeper. He also started studying human resource management, which he hopes to be able to continue in Spain once he has settled.<\/p>\n \u201cSpain is one of the most respected countries in the world,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing here is an opportunity for me.\u201d<\/p>\n