loss of life, despair, and damaged guarantees
Alieu begins his journey in Senegal, boarding a ship with over 250 folks, all searching for a greater life in Europe. What was presupposed to be a seven-day journey rapidly turns right into a nine-day ordeal at sea.
“The boat was overcrowded,” Alieu explains, his voice full of emotion. “People start dying one by one. They are thrown into the sea, claimed to be possessed by something. It’s horrifying. We’re starving, thirsty, and the conditions are unbearable.”
What ought to have been a short journey turns into a gruelling check of endurance. Without sufficient meals or water, Alieu and the opposite passengers wrestle to outlive. After 9 lengthy days, they lastly arrive in Mauritania—exhausted, damaged, and in determined want of assist.
But the struggling doesn’t finish there. In Mauritania, Alieu and his fellow travellers face additional hardships. “It was so hard for us,” he says.
“We were disrespected and treated terribly. We received no support from the Gambian embassy, while the Senegalese and Guineans got help from their ambassadors. We were left to fend for ourselves.”
When Alieu turns to the Gambian embassy for help, he’s met with disappointment. “The ambassador tells us we have to pay 700 dalasis each for transportation back home. We have no money, no way to pay. It’s as if our lives mean nothing.”
Despite guarantees from the federal government to compensate them for his or her struggling, Alieu claims that nothing has been performed. “The government said they would compensate us, but till today, no one has fulfilled that promise. It’s been weeks, and we are still waiting.”
In a coronary heart breaking conclusion to the interview, Alieu admits that, regardless of every little thing he has endured, he would nonetheless take the harmful journey once more.
“If another boat comes, and it promises to take us in seven days, I would go again. Because nothing works for me here in The Gambia,” he says, his phrases reflecting the hopelessness felt by many younger Gambians who danger every little thing searching for a greater life overseas.
Alieu’s story highlights the cruel realities confronted by many West Africans making an attempt the “backway” path to Europe, typically involving perilous sea journeys.
His expertise additionally exposes the dearth of ample help for Gambian residents overseas, particularly when in comparison with the help offered to nationals of neighbouring international locations like Senegal and Guinea.
As Alieu’s ache and wrestle proceed, his message serves as a stark reminder of the continued challenges many younger folks face in The Gambia and past, and the acute lengths they’re keen to go to within the hopes of a greater future.
Reporting by Adama Makasuba
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