Even she doesn’t know how far she’s come so far. From that Sierra Leone where it was born, up to here, between the endless olive groves that separate the small towns from the vast coasts of emigration, looking at the map of nations and deserts, trying to draw and count lines from one point to another, behold, Makala will have traveled ten thousand kilometers. And the last part is still missing. But will there ever be a final part? «We both wanted to reach Milan. My Husband It would have been the first, I would have waited the time to look for a job, Collect some money and send it to me and so I could go in order. Together with our seven-month-old daughter: she was born in the desert.”
The summaries
The desert is that of Libya, where Makala, It had been on the move since 2018 and stayed for three years. And the little girl was born in the desert, in an oasis, as a form of security: true, there were no doctors or nurses, not even friends to help her; But by keeping it hidden among the palm trees, the risks that might arise were reduced, although not eliminated Looters, militiamen, human traffickers, wild vagrants or drug addicts. “We have expanded the family, a blessing from heaven.” After so much effort, so much suffering, we celebrated. Between us. We celebrated with tears». About the long time in Libya, the prisons and concentration camps, the raids against migrants, the robberies, the torture, Makala prefers not to talk. As absurd as it may be, in these shocking testimonies of people, The most important thing was to leave Libya and manage to reach Tunisia.
“The Last Great Harvest”
In Tunisia, in this area three hours drive from the capital Tunis – we are on the coast and in the countryside of Sfax, a city of 260,000 people, one of the historic ports of the entire Mediterranean – these are the days of the “last great harvest”. That’s exactly what they call, even when it comes to the products of the land to be grown, sold and earned, in terms of weather conditions, with maximum temperatures over 35 degrees, and the sea itself, very calm; By the harvest we mean that of the migrants and their money. To get on the boat and reach Lampedusa today you will need 3,500 Tunisian dinars. the equivalent of a thousand euros. A price a third lower than what smugglers were demanding just a month ago. But Makala, whom we meet in the town of Jebeniana, lies on the sidewalk not far from the tiny community center that sits atop the crowded mosque. Hamas flags and motor scooters hang on windows, and camels are for sale (The shopkeeper enlarges the meat and explains that it removes all inflammation from the body.) We told Makala, the little girl on her lap and a plastic cup in her hand, to ask for alms. He doesn’t even have the coins for lunch. He hasn’t eaten anything for two days. «My husband just died at sea. His boat capsized. He died. And I don’t know how or what to do.
Migrants with money
Tunisia is in a humanitarian emergency which Europe is of little interest. If anything, we will talk about it again if a criminal has passed by on the boats (which, be careful, happens, but less often than you think). From women like Makalaaround us, resting tired, trying to breastfeed their newborns, driving away flies and insects, ashamed of their worn and tattered clothes, there are hundreds of them. Women who cannot go back to where they came from and who cannot get to where they want to go. “Once we were all in Milan we would have gone to Ventimiglia to enter France. That was our goal. We would meet up with friends in France, above Parisand they would help us around the house.
Makala represents the poor migrantthe one in the real sense without the possibility of planning not for the immediate short-term future, but even for the immediate tomorrow. Then they are thereand just position yourself in the right bars and spend hours watching them, rich migrants. Or at least those who don’t have money problems. Who am I? The coordinates are the same: normally in their twenties, one or two latest generation cell phones, expensive headphones, the same clothes, daily lunch and dinner expenses totaling up to 50 dinars or 15 euros (salaries in Tunisia average around 500 euros), long waiting times at the post office and at bank counters to withdraw bundles of banknotes. I’ve been here for a while, Time to breathe deeply, then they can travel to Europe whenever they want. Perhaps the Tunisian intelligence sources we met on this trip are caught up in the dynamics of crime. Among the migrants there are another category we need to remember: criminals. Without generalizing but relying on investigative reports, they come mainly from Chad, Nigeria and Sudan. They have established bases in some internal locations in Tunisia where police control is weak – lAgent corruption is widespread – or even easily purchased. Drugs, prostitution crime. And weapons. Board the boats. A Kalashnikov will soon land on the Italian coast; For Makala, who dreamed of Milan, it won’t be like this, maybe it will never be like this.