Refugees on the Canary Islands | DW Documentary

Refugees on the Canary Islands | DW Documentary

This year alone more than 32,000 people have fled from West Africa to the Canary Islands by boat a record high hundreds have died in the process abdulah Cham from Sagal also wants to risk the dangerous Crossing if everything worked as it should we wouldn’t leave if I could I would rather earn a

Living in Sagal and be close to my mother but I had to leave I can’t go on like this abdulai has a plan the young sagales wants to take a boat to Europe in the next few days he lives in a suburb of D together with his mother and extended

Family he dreams of a better life of a job that pays enough enough to send money home to his loved ones but not everyone here is convinced of his Plan I want you to have a long life the boat is not safe let me go I’ll make it please find a different way okay I’ll try you really should okay but if one day I’m gone then you’ll know that I’ve taken a boat and

When I have money you won’t have to work so hard anymore that’s my biggest dream I get so excited when I think about it I want to use my life to make yours better every day I see how hard life is for my mother to provide food for the

Family she has to sell something at the market or I get money from my work at the Tailor’s I can’t live like this anymore I want to take a a boat to Europe his destination is Elo the smallest Canary Island located of the west coast of Africa it forms part of

Spain he’s not the only one with this destination in recent months migrants from West Africa have arrived on Elo almost every day they traveled for days in overcrowded boats without being able to move many come from Sagal around a th000 nautical miles away which is over over 1,800

Km they receive medical treatment at the port and are then taken to reception centers modal had a similar plan the young sagales man is a tailor 3 years ago he decided to take a boat to the Canary Islands but after a few days at Sea they lost their course no more food

No more water on board all I thought was going to die either today or tomorrow I knew how much danger we were in you have to imagine the boat is huge it rises crashes down sometimes it almost breaks apart people were crying all I could think about was my

Mother that I might never see her again after seven days they suddenly see the port of ganaria modu can hardly believe that he’s made it it was the middle of the night and we were all asleep and suddenly we saw the lights of the island I shouted we’re here everyone was

So happy even those who were ill felt over jooin miguelon knows such stories well the mayor ofo has seen more migrants arrive in the last few months than ever before since the beginning of the year year there have been around 7,000 the island itself has a population of around

11,000 it has been completely overwhelming we lack any sort of infrastructure to provide for the inhabitants of aliero the tourists and the migrants he knows that everyone who arrives here has risked their life this year alone hundreds could only be recovered dead by sea rescue organizations what drives them to cram themselves into

A boat like that for 5 to seven days in terrible conditions hardly anything to eat the stifling Heat and the cold the migrants are now set to be accommodated in this former Monastery because there are no other places left on the island since last June T padon and her husband HTO have been

Volunteering to help Them what else can I do should I make up the beds prepare the first aid kits yes let’s see how many people arrive this time we’ll see where we can put the babies women and children depending on the number those who are injured should go on the ground floor anyone else on the

First when they arrive here they need water immediately because literally every boat runs out of it at some point we always have jugs of water ready and then they need rest the two have shared many moments with the migrants they’ve been helping day and night at the reception centers

But the situation has worsened there’s so many migrants now we can’t look after all of them a boat arrives you try to provide them with water and take them to the showers you haven’t even finished when you hear a new boat has arrived 280 people so you have to

Reorganize again and see where you can find beds it’s really difficult what’s more many migrants are now arriving in poor health just a few days ago one person died in Sea’s care you blame yourself could I have done more should I have checked on them more

Often that night because the thing is we meet them here get to know them and then it’s so Difficult padron is on his way to his next appointment He’s going to the cemetery today another migrant who was found dead by sea rescue is being buried it’s up and down on the one hand it feels good to give respect to these people and bury them in our midst like

Everyone else in our community but it’s also tragic as we don’t know their names their gravestones remain nameless and no one will be able to find their husband child or brother it is the 10th burial of a migrant in the small Cemetery the municipality Bears the costs itself around €1,500

For many the migrants might just be numbers but for me it’s a tragedy we know how many arrive here but we don’t know how many others have tried nobody knows how many die trying to cross the sea their bodies are often never found however there’s a small

Victory today for the first time the migrant who’s being buried could be identified all the others remain nameless back in Sagal we are in abdullah’s Taylor Workshop he’s had the job for years and now owns a small business initially he had high hopes of expanding it to help his family

But that’s more difficult than Expected I’m good at tailoring but I don’t earn enough to invest most tailor aren’t doing well these days and we have such competition from the shopping center now what’s left is earning a bit of money by sewing and selling and selling only really works when there are festivities in Sagal and

People want to wear nice clothes the rest of the year he earns too little he says then he and his Apprentice have to get by somehow if everything worked as it should we wouldn’t leave if I could I would rather earn a living in Sagal and

Be close to my mother but I have to leave can’t go on like this many people in snagle are in a similar situation they are suffering from the poor economic situation in the country especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine food and energy prices have risen on top of this there’s

Now political unrest at the beginning of June youth gangs were battling with the police abdullah’s working day is over for today he’s off to see his friends they know that he wants to take a boat soon and how dangerous that is in the last two days 49 people have

Arrived in Spain and there have been deaths on every boat they were starving they were seasick they pack food and water for six seven days but if the boat gets lost they need N9 days then they die of thirst I would plan food and water not

For six or eight days but rather for 12 I thought nothing now you’re saying supplies for 12 days even if a marabu told me that billions were waiting for me there I wouldn’t risk the trip those who decide to take a boat do so because they no longer feel any hope

Here in Sagal there are young people who just hang around and do nothing but there are also so many who really give it their all and try very hard but the state doesn’t help it works against them yes that’s the main reason young people take a boat to Spain even though

There is of course responsibility on both sides the state has failed to encourage and support young people here on their Journey Abdullah’s Faith gives him hope that he will survive the crossing but he’s aware of just how dangerous it is he knows people who have never returned but he has sought help from a spiritual leader am marabu I went to a marabu who made me this lucky charm which I will carry with

Me during the journey and he gave me this magical water you touch it to make the path safer it’s time to pack Abdullah can’t take much with him for the week at Sea just a small backpack with a few clothes if I manage to get to Europe I

Will first help my family with money so that they always have enough to eat then the house can be renovated when the house is finished I will try to get a job that will earn me enough money to come back and invest and give back to my own

Country before he set off M had similar dreams but the reality was radically Different the refugees from other countries were here on the island for maybe a month or two then they were allowed to travel onto the mainland but we came from Sagal and as there is no war there they told us that we had to go back to our country and

B M’s Asylum application was rejected because he’s an economic migrant he was sent to be deported and ended up on the street a friend let him move in with her he tries to keep his head above water by working as a tailor but to this day he

Still has no papers and remains in Spain illegally my family keeps asking me for money you’re in Europe now they say but what people in Africa imagine Europe to be has nothing to do with reality if you live here and have papers your life is good but if not you have

Nothing and I left so much behind I had a good job in Sagal but I lost everything modu misses his mother and brother he wishes he had chosen a different route to come to Spain back Then if you can come here by plane legally that’s better but if you take a boat you’re gambling with your life some arrive but so many don’t I lost so many friends in the sea I tried to warn them but they wouldn’t listen on the beach in Dakar Abdullah is

Waiting for his boat to leave but the weather suddenly changes the trip is cancelled the sea is too rough but that doesn’t stop up delai from sticking to his Plan yes I’m aware of the danger but life is expensive here and if you risk nothing you get nothing anything is possible at Sea if you’re ready to leave then the Hur in your way don’t matter and you just pray for the sea to remain calm a new trip is already being planned

The boat should leave next summer at the latest abdulai firmly believes that he will arrive in Europe in good health to start a new life There on

More than 30,000 migrants have reached the Canary Islands in the Atlantic this year. Many of them come from Senegal.

Tailor Abdoulaye is also keen to make the dangerous crossing, but he’s still having some doubts. Friends are telling him not to go, that it’s too risky. The journey takes many days out on the high seas to avoid western African nations’ coastguard patrols. Many don’t survive; their ramshackle boats sink or they drift off course and die of thirst. In cemeteries on the Canary Islands, there are more and more graves of unknown victims. The smallest island in the archipelago has taken in an especially high number of migrants from Africa. Mayor Juan Miguel Padron says his island is struggling to cope with the growing number of people who leave their homes searching for a better life. A report by Tessa Clara Walther.

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