According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, Senegalese men risk their lives to support their families by traveling 1,000 miles to Spain on rickety little homemade wooden boats like those pictured above. 

It is rare that the mainstream media shows us the myriad ways in which African men sacrifice to support and feed their families--usually all we hear about African men is negative, and is displayed through the lens of the problems faced by African women. (One exception would be that during the international protests against South African apartheid during the 1970s and 1980s, we learned of the struggles of the South African miners, who were terribly exploited by the South African mining companies).

The new Los Angeles Times article A passage buoyed by hope alone (3/16/07) details the way thousands of young Senegalese men are pressured into making the perilous journey by sea to Europe so they can earn money to support their families. Many die in the process:

"Six hundred bodies washed up last year on the Canary Islands or the African mainland, but Spanish authorities estimate that 6,000 died on their journeys, making the odds of dying similar to playing a game of chance with a six-chambered revolver."

The men are pressured by women into leaving so they can earn money in comparatively wealthy Spain:

"Yet nearly every mother wants her son to undergo the test and nearly every young man on the faded and tattered streets of Senegal's fishing villages wants to be a candidate. To become a candidate is to be gilded with heroism. To stay behind with the women, the boys, the old men and the cowards is to know shame."

A passage buoyed by hope alone
Thousands of Senegal's young men take to the seas each year, bound for Europe. It takes courage to make the journey, luck to survive.
By Robyn Dixon
Times Staff Writer
March 16, 2007

Kayar, Senegal — THEY are known as "the candidates," and the test they face is desperate, dangerous and completely illegal. The odds are about the same as Russian roulette.

Yet nearly every mother wants her son to undergo the test and nearly every young man on the faded and tattered streets of Senegal's fishing villages wants to be a candidate. To become a candidate is to be gilded with heroism. To stay behind with the women, the boys, the old men and the cowards is to know shame.

The test is one of mythic proportions. The men brave the Atlantic in rickety wooden boats with dicey motors, often navigating by the sun and stars to try to find the tiny chips of land that are Europe's back door: the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory 950 miles away, off the west coast of Morocco.

Thousands of the would-be immigrants die each year when their "pirogues," open fishing boats that resemble giant canoes, go down. But as they prepare for the greatest journey of their lives, the mood is jubilant, optimistic, exhilarated.

They have taken a final bath in holy water. They have prayed with their families and promised their parents that they will never forget where they came from and will always send home money and help. They have tied protective talismans with passages from the Koran around their waists.

"Once we were in the boat, we relaxed. It was fun, as if it was a party. We sang and danced," said Thiacko Ndiaye, 41, of one of the fishing villages, Thiaroye-sur-Mer, who sold his fishing boat and engine to leave. "Everything was wonderful. Everyone was confident that we were going to make it."

But the 75-foot pirogue, with 81 terrified men on board, got lost and the waves smashed the timbers at the prow and side.

"The wooden boat started to break up. That's how we knew we wouldn't make it. We knew it wouldn't get us there, so we turned back," he said. The boat was picked up by a vessel close to Morocco's coast.

The scale of the exodus is extraordinary. Ask anyone in these teeming seaside villages: Nearly all have a relative or friend in Europe. Spanish immigration officials said 31,000 illegal immigrants, 60% of them from Senegal, reached the Canary Islands last year, six times the previous year's number. On a single day in September, 1,000 arrived. By mid-February this year, 1,000 more had landed there.

Six hundred bodies washed up last year on the Canary Islands or the African mainland, but Spanish authorities estimate that 6,000 died on their journeys, making the odds of dying similar to playing a game of chance with a six-chambered revolver.

Still, Issa Dieng, 35, a photographer here in Kayar, a village north of the capital, Dakar, feels a compelling, restless energy to be gone. Five months ago, he paid the $700 boat fare to send his brother, who is now working in Florence, Italy.

"It's reached the point where there is shame not to go, and all the brave and courageous men go. If there's a boat ready to go, I won't miss it," he said.

IN this country where about half the people live below the poverty line and about half the workforce is unemployed, even the humblest job in Europe can help set a Senegalese family up for life. At $70 a day, the average wage in Spain is 35 times higher than Senegal's, at about $2 a day.

The candidates send back televisions, music systems and cash, from about $200 a month up. The new houses going up in dilapidated seashore villages are bought with money sent from Europe, locals say.

Read the full article here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2007 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Fatherhood, Gender Issues (Misc.), Men, Women and Work, Immigration. You can trackback from your own site.