Volunteers in the Canary Islands are guiding thousands of African migrants as they face their traumas of the sea; looking for peace after the endangering journeys to Europe.
“I wouldn´t do it again. It´s very difficult, very, very dangerous. It´s a risk we took because we didn´t have a choice. It´s tough in Mali,” said Mamadou M Bathily, a 24-year-old trained IT specialist who came to Tenerife through Senegal with 215 others.
Letting go of the past
This summer, Mamadou was guided by Spanish volunteers from Proemaid to take his first safe strokes in the Tenerife waters.
Proemaid launched Project Aqua in 2016 to help people let go of their fear of water. In the Canary Islands, volunteers are working with groups of 35-40 people, with some spending up to 15 days at sea, as they work through their traumas.
“There are people who come with a terrible fear that you see when they get into the water holding your hand as if clinging to life,” said Jorge Balcazar, the coordinator of Project Aqua. He explained that with the incredibly difficult paths that the migrants take through the sea, many lose their loved ones before they reach Spain.
“The truth is that in a few sessions you see changes and their gratitude, which gives us a huge boost of energy,” shared Balcazar. Francisco Navarro from the collaborating NGO, ACCEM, said that they expect to train as many as 450 African migrants during this summer.
In pursuit of a future
The number of African migrants arriving in Spain by sea has risen by 160 per cent between January and July 15 of this year from 2023, reaching almost 20,000 people, according to Spain´s interior ministry. Migration rights group, Walking Borders reported that nearly 5,000 migrants died at sea within these seven months.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska explained that the rise in arrivals was caused by the “political destabilization of the Sahel.” The Sahel region has seen an increase of military coups over the past years with the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Niger and Sudan now all ruled by military juntas.
While Morocco and Western Sahara are relatively close to the Canaries (100 km), a vast amount of migrants travel from Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, which a 1,000 km from the Spanish coast; a life-threatening journey.
A 17-year-old migrant, Famara, talked to Euronews about the reasons why he took the boat from Gambia to Spain; “The time that my mother passed away, I thought about it, because my mother took care of my younger brothers and my sisters. Now my mother is not there, so I have to be the one taking care of them in the future. That made me come here.”
Most migrants who arrive in the Canary Islands are given shelters across Spain, yet minors are not permitted to be transferred. Hundreds of young people without families are housed in more than 70 special reception centres in the Gran Canaries alone.
Last year, with the increase in migration on the Spanish coast, Spain´s acting migration minister provided the Canary Islands with 50 million of emergency funding to help the local government address the “extraordinary migration flow.” With these acts, an immeasurable value is brought into the lives of thousands of African migrants in pursuit of a future.
