Record number of Africans flee to Spain's Canary Islands
Some 32,000 West African migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands this year, setting a new record. Their goal is mainland Europe, but the chances of getting asylum are slim. Spanish authorities are overwhelmed.
Transcript
00:00 This port on Gran Canaria is of special significance to Modu.
00:07 He's from Senegal, and like many other West Africans, he came here on a small, overcrowded
00:12 fishing boat.
00:15 This year, tens of thousands made the perilous journey.
00:22 All I was thinking was, I'm going to die.
00:26 If not today, tomorrow, I sensed the danger we were in.
00:31 You have to imagine, the boat went up, then crashed down.
00:35 Sometimes it almost broke apart.
00:38 People were crying.
00:39 All I could think about was my mother, that I'd never see her again.
00:44 Modu survived the life-threatening crossing, but his hopes of traveling to the Spanish
00:49 mainland for a new life have slowly faded.
00:54 It's been three whole years since he arrived in the Canaries, and Modu still can't leave.
00:59 All the while, boats from West Africa continue to dock here.
01:04 Around 35,000 people made the journey this year, over twice as many as last.
01:10 Many arrive with injuries.
01:13 Hundreds more die at sea.
01:16 The crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands is considered one of the most dangerous
01:21 routes to Europe.
01:23 Juan Miguel Padron is confronted with this reality every day.
01:27 He's the mayor of El Hierro, the smallest of the islands.
01:30 He's on his way to the cemetery, yet another funeral for a migrant who died at sea.
01:38 I'm happy that we can bury them here, alongside everyone else from our community.
01:44 But I'm sad because we don't have their names.
01:47 Their gravestones are blank.
01:49 And that means that no one will come to look for their husband, their child or brother.
02:05 Modu's mother and brother are still in Senegal.
02:08 He misses them.
02:10 He'd never risk his life crossing on a boat again, he says.
02:16 You gamble with your life.
02:18 Some make it, but many don't.
02:21 I've lost so many friends at sea.
02:24 I tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen.
02:33 Stories Teseida Padron and her husband know all too well.
02:39 The volunteers are making preparations for a new shelter in a former monastery.
02:44 But space on the island is running out.
02:46 What's left?
02:49 Shall I make the beds?
02:51 Prepare the first aid kits?
02:54 Yes, let's see how many there are first.
02:59 Then we can decide where to put the babies, women and children.
03:03 The injured could take the first floor and the others the second.
03:07 Good.
03:10 The ferry to Tenerife, transporting hundreds of refugees to the larger island.
03:16 Many more are expected.
03:18 There are so many coming, we just can't take care of them.
03:23 One boat arrives, you give everyone water and take them to the showers.
03:27 Then another boat's coming, 280 people.
03:31 You must reorganize again, see where you can find more beds.
03:35 It's hard.
03:40 Many arrive sick or wounded.
03:43 Just a few days ago, a man in Teseida's care died.
03:50 It's a real blow.
03:56 You wonder if you could have done more, whether you should have checked again that night.
04:02 We meet them, get to know them.
04:05 And then it's difficult.
04:10 Modu is considered an economic migrant.
04:15 He was denied asylum, which means he'll be deported.
04:21 Refugees from other countries might be here for a month or two before being allowed to
04:25 travel to the mainland.
04:26 But we're from Senegal, and there's no war there.
04:31 So they told us we have to go back to our country.
04:38 Modu lacks the legal grounds to stay, but he is staying put, working as a tailor.
04:43 An acquaintance took him in, but the situation makes him unhappy.
04:51 My family keeps asking me for money.
04:54 But you're in Europe now, they say.
04:57 But Africans' idea of Europe has little to do with reality.
05:01 If you live here and have papers, you can have a good life.
05:05 Otherwise you have nothing.
05:07 And I left so much behind.
05:09 I had a good job in Senegal, but I lost everything.
05:15 Modu hopes it wasn't all in vain.
05:18 But so far, he says, his dream of a better life in Europe has not come true.
05:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]