Media
on EL PAIS: El viaje terrible que acaba en Melilla
adriana thomasa
Dec 16, 2022
Summary
In July 2022, after the terrible massacre that occurred on June 24 2022 at the Melilla border, where at least 23 migrants died, I did an assignment for EL PAIS with Maria Martin at the text, to portray one of the survivors of that day, Amir, a Sudanese refugee.
“Amir, one of the refugees who jumped the fence on June 24, crossed Africa on a two-year odyssey. He worked as a miner and a bricklayer, was robbed several times and intercepted on the high seas”
Amir jumped the Melilla fence on June 24, after two years crossing part of the African continent. On his journey he passed through Chad, Libya, Algeria and Morocco, working as a miner and bricklayer, and was extorted and robbed. Several times he tried to reach Europe by land and by sea. In Libya he boarded a boat to reach Italy or Malta, and in Morocco he tried 12 times to reach Spain through Ceuta and Melilla. His reason, to flee the violence of Sudan and to be able to live in a safe place. The ring that his mother gave him accompanied him throughout the trip. He achieved his goal in the last massive jump to the Melilla fence, where thousands of migrants tried and at least 23 died.
“In these two years of traveling around the precipice, Amir has lost many friends along the way. He claims never to have fallen in love and explains it by alluding to the terrible life he has led. Now, in Melilla, he will request asylum and will most likely end up on the Peninsula. To him, he repeats it again, he doesn't care about the place, as long as he can live in peace. The day he was suffocated by gas at the Nador border crossing and came to wish for death, he became, paradoxically, the luckiest. When he crossed the last border, he felt his clothes and thought that he still had three things necessary to win: his own life, a future in Europe and his mother's ring.
Words by María Martín.
El viaje terrible que acaba en MelillaAmir, uno de los refugiados que saltó la valla el pasado 24 de junio, atravesó Ãfrica en una odisea de dos años. Trabajó de minero y de albañil, fue desvalijado varias veces e interceptado en alta mar
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