Migration to Italy changes landscape, fortunes, lives

With five children, a luxurious home and a husband in Italy she rarely sees, Mai Dieng is like thousands of women in her region of northern Senegal. She knows little to nothing of her husband’s life abroad. “Doesn’t he tell you when he comes back?” a curious neighbour asks. Dieng laughs, patting her body to suggest what happens when her husband returns home. Dieng lives in Kebemer which lies on the main road north about 155 km from the capital Dakar. Here in this sleepy town, almost every household boasts a relative living in Italy. “This town lives to the rhythm of emigration,” said Mansour Tall, a consultant for UN Habitat which recently sponsored a study with the Senegalese Ministry of Housing. “In some villages in the Louga region (which includes Kebemer) emigrants’ money transfers represent 90 percent of household income,” Tall explained. Contributions from Senegalese living abroad are a pillar of the West African country’s economy. The regional central bank estimated that private money transfers to Senegal were 195 billion CFA francs (about US $3.66 million) in 2003 - nearly a quarter of that year's budget. And this does not include money coming into the country through more informal means, hand-to-hand or through unofficial ‘banks,' Abdou Malal Diop from the Ministry of Senegalese Living Abroad points out. Much of the money runs from Europe to rural Senegal through the web of Western Union offices that have sprouted up in the tiniest remote villages. Where even a simple grocery shop is hard to come by in some hamlets, Western Union is there. Satellites and thatch roofs Money from relatives abroad is fuelling erratic migration within Senegal, redrawing the population map for some areas. Census information from 1986 and 2002 show that in the three regions crossed by the main road running from Dakar to St Louis, entire villages have disappeared, their populations moving closer to major urban centres with the help of money from relatives overseas. Meanwhile, the villages left behind are surviving, thanks solely to emigrants’ contributions. Toby Diop is one such village. A sand track slips away from the asphalt road just outside Kebemer and leads down to the small village, where satellite dishes on fancy villas tower over thatch and corrugated iron roofs. When the track stutters to an end, on a sandy plain dotted with acacias, a brand new mosque stands against the open sky. This is Mzenguene. Here, white concrete houses are covered with antennas and solar panels. An assortment of increasingly modern construction themes testifies to the effects of money coming in from Europe-based relatives. Senegalese abroad commonly combine efforts to finance the construction of mosques, schools, wells and dispensaries, or to pay for electricity or telephone lines for their communities. Historically, Senegalese have migrated to France, with movement to the former colonial power beginning in the mid-1940s. But Italy became a destination of choice in the 1980s and ‘90s, says Papa Demba Fall, social geography professor at Dakar’s main university. “Italy has replaced France in Senegalese hearts,” Fall says. Fall points out that while the earlier migrants to France were mostly of the Soninke and Pulaar ethnic groups, the recent wave to Italy has been primarily the Wolof. The villages blossoming with money sent from the land of "la dolce vita" are known as "modou-modou”, which comes from the Wolof for emigrants to Italy. According to a 2004 migration study by Caritas-Migrantes, almost 50,000 Senegalese are living in Italy with residence permits. The Senegalese government promotes reinvestment with awareness campaigns aimed at the Senegalese community in Italy, informing emigrants about investment opportunities and prospective partnerships with Italian entrepreneurs. Due largely to an immigration law passed in Italy in 2002 - which slapped tougher restrictions on immigrants - Senegalese movement to the country has been decreasing in the past few years. Pros and cons of migration But Italy and Senegal are working on a bilateral agreement that could increase the number of Senegalese allowed each year into the European country, according to Diop of the Ministry for Senegalese Living Abroad. Diop said the flow of Senegalese abroad has its advantages and disadvantages. “We do not like emigration because we lose our human resources,” he said. “But on the other hand emigrants’ money has a huge impact on our economy. We are Italy’s great friends and we must work together for mutual profit.” Italy has become a powerful myth - a promised land, Kebemer residents say. Fatou Kebe, president of a women’s network in Kebemer whose three sisters and six brothers have settled in Italy, is troubled by this widespread fascination. “Boys don’t undertake secondary studies because they are obsessed with going to Italy,” she said. “Years go by and they don’t study or work; they are just waiting for the opportunity to leave.” Most who have made it to Italy continue efforts to invest at home and help their communities, but the undertaking is not without its complications, Professor Fall says. For one thing emigrants often have a hard time dispelling the myth that they have vast sums of money because they live in the West. “Emigrants think the European way, but they still cannot say no to their families,” he says. Mamadou Niang is a case in point. He arrived in Italy five years ago, with a university degree and a tourist visa in his pocket. It was difficult to adjust, but he’s now quite integrated in a town near Turin where he coaches a boys’ basketball team. His dream was to go back home to visit his family in St Louis, after securing a 3,000 euro loan, he set off for his one-month vacation. But after only three days in Senegal, Niang is desperate. His family and friends seem interested solely in the gifts that fill his suitcases and the money he’s expected to dole out. Neighbours make a queue to say ‘hello’ to him and each one asks for something. “I want to go back to Italy,” he says. Niang tries to explain how hard his life in Italy is, but he can’t quite convey it. The general impression among his family and friends is simply that if you live in Italy, you must have money, so you have to share it. Niang ran out of money a few weeks into his stay home in Senegal. The final week was financed by an emergency gift, from his friends in Italy via Western Union.