![[Senegal] Artisanal or traditional fishing boats in their bright colours on the beach at Soumbedioune, Dakar.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20059133.jpg.webp?itok=jUo1cMJR "Type de pirogue utilisé pour convoyer les immigrants clandestins vers l'archipel des Canaries")
Spain recently provided surveillance boats and other equipment to help patrol Senegal’s waters because of a recent surge in illegal migration to the Spanish Canary Islands.
More than 20,000 illegal migrants have turned up on the archipelago this year. The migrants board fishing boats to make the roughly 1,500-km journey, hoping eventually to reach mainland Spain and find work.
This is the third in a series of three profiles on Senegalese migrants.
Abdallah Diouf, 35
When the sea was no longer providing him with fish to sell, Abdallah Diouf thought that maybe the sea could provide him with something else: a new life.
“I had the opportunity to leave so I said 'Why not?' I told myself that whether I stayed or left on this adventure, it was all the same since it was in the hands of God,” he said.
Abdallah left his wife and children on 6 May in a fishing vessel along with 79 other passengers. After five harrowing days at sea, the boat neared the shores of the island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries.
A helicopter circled above. Then a Spanish marine led them to the quay and from there they were taken to a holding camp.
Originally, Abdallah thought that he would eventually make it onto the Spanish mainland and be able to call on friends settled in Barcelona. They had offered to take him in and help him out once he arrived.
Instead, Abdallah remained at the holding camp for 40 days. Then he was repatriated.
Since being back in Senegal, Abdallah has taken solace with others who have been sent back home, drinking tea with them and watching soccer matches on television. And, he says, his family has been a great comfort to him.
“Our families didn’t turn their backs on us. On the contrary, they are trying to rebuild our confidence,” he said. “It is not shameful to make the trip and not succeed.”
Still, Abdallah is not ready to recast his fishing nets. “Before, there were fish at here, but now you have to go further, sometimes as far as Guinea or Sierra Leone. You have to spend more days at sea and you’re bringing back less. You never get ahead, especially when you’re a father and you have a family.”
Although Abdallah is uncertain about his future in Senegal, his experience as an illegal migrant left him with a bitter taste, and he has no plans to re-attempt the voyage.
ab/kdd/cs/ss
More than 20,000 illegal migrants have turned up on the archipelago this year. The migrants board fishing boats to make the roughly 1,500-km journey, hoping eventually to reach mainland Spain and find work.
This is the third in a series of three profiles on Senegalese migrants.
Abdallah Diouf, 35
When the sea was no longer providing him with fish to sell, Abdallah Diouf thought that maybe the sea could provide him with something else: a new life.
“I had the opportunity to leave so I said 'Why not?' I told myself that whether I stayed or left on this adventure, it was all the same since it was in the hands of God,” he said.
Abdallah left his wife and children on 6 May in a fishing vessel along with 79 other passengers. After five harrowing days at sea, the boat neared the shores of the island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries.
A helicopter circled above. Then a Spanish marine led them to the quay and from there they were taken to a holding camp.
Originally, Abdallah thought that he would eventually make it onto the Spanish mainland and be able to call on friends settled in Barcelona. They had offered to take him in and help him out once he arrived.
Instead, Abdallah remained at the holding camp for 40 days. Then he was repatriated.
Since being back in Senegal, Abdallah has taken solace with others who have been sent back home, drinking tea with them and watching soccer matches on television. And, he says, his family has been a great comfort to him.
“Our families didn’t turn their backs on us. On the contrary, they are trying to rebuild our confidence,” he said. “It is not shameful to make the trip and not succeed.”
Still, Abdallah is not ready to recast his fishing nets. “Before, there were fish at here, but now you have to go further, sometimes as far as Guinea or Sierra Leone. You have to spend more days at sea and you’re bringing back less. You never get ahead, especially when you’re a father and you have a family.”
Although Abdallah is uncertain about his future in Senegal, his experience as an illegal migrant left him with a bitter taste, and he has no plans to re-attempt the voyage.
ab/kdd/cs/ss
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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