2006年VOA标准英语-Failed West African Migrants Vow to Try Again

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
28 November 2006

Tens of thousands of West Africans have been picked up on European islands, this year, and hundreds of others have died at sea.  They left on pirogues, trying to find better prospects 1 in Europe, but failed.  Many who were caught but survived vow 2 to try again, despite efforts to organize an intelligence crackdown.  VOA's Nico Colombant reports from Dakar in this the second report in a five-part series on migration-related issues.  

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Modou Diop vows 3 to return

Modou Diop has become somewhat of a celebrity 4 in the fishing village, Thiaroye, not too far from the capital on the Atlantic Ocean coastline.  After scraping together enough money for a voyage on a pirogue, he says he tried - even if he failed.

"My experience was a bitter one," he said. "Even before leaving, my mother went through a lot just for me to go.  But, unfortunately, I never reached Spain as our boat had a problem and one of us died at sea.  I am now back;  but, if given another chance with a better facility, I will go again as we have nothing to do here. Look at all my friends. They are sitting doing nothing, only playing football. There is no work and nothing to help our parents with."

Many people sell family property, jewelry 5, clothes - animals to pay for the voyage, which sometimes costs several thousand dollars.

 
Would-be immigrants arrive in the port of Los Cristianos on the Canary Island of Tenerife, Spain, Sept. 8, 2006
They have no guarantees. They know many have failed. They know they can get caught as soon as they arrive.  But still they try.

Saidou Diallo is a farmer from the southern Casamance region.  He says his crops have been doing badly, so he figured he would try to make it to Europe, because he really had nothing to lose.

He says they made it to the Spanish Canary Islands on the ninth day of the trip. He was immediately caught by Spanish border police and put on a plane back to Senegal.

He says he has no formal education, but that he can cook and drive and also farm and that, if given a chance, he is sure he could succeed in Europe.

 
Many youth say staying in Africa leads to nowhere
He says his friends and family paid for his voyage and that they were disappointed to see him back, so soon.

He says when he finds money, he will try again.

Others who were sent back organized protests - holding up signs with misspelled words, pleading 6 for government help.  Officials in the capital, Dakar, and nervous residents in affluent 7 neighborhoods say some banded as petty 8 thieves, causing a rise in criminality.