GOUDIRY, Senegal, Oct 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Bocar Diallo, 63, left Goudiry in southeast Senegal at the age of 18 to make a living in France, where he spent more than three decades doing various jobs before returning home to retire and be with his family.
“When I left Senegal there were none of today’s challenges.
When we arrived in Tripoli, we were not tired and we found jobs. We worked there for six months, before flying to Austria, then heading to France via Germany. It was not difficult.
But the France of my time and the France of today are two different things. That time has gone, because those who made the journey across the desert and the sea after I did told me so.
At first I worked part-time at Renault, then for several companies, before spending 15 years working at an airport.
But some people spent 15 years without getting the documents needed to work. If you do not have papers you can’t get into the city to work.
What’s the point of going to the sea and risking your life if you cannot find work? In France, you will see people who have been there for three or four years and have never worked.
I lived with other Senegalese migrants in France and there were some who were doing well but many others had nothing.
There was a home called Robespierre in which there was an excessive number of immigrants. When you got off the subway after work at 5pm, the market was always crowded with them.
Why? Because they had nowhere else to go while they were awake. They had to wait for people to leave for work before they went back to the house as there wasn’t enough space for us all.
The house was overloaded so we took turns to sleep.
It’s too much, what I see happening in France today. It’s not that there are no jobs, but that there are too many people.
France cannot handle it.”
