Billy's journey: Crossing the Sahara
Mamadou Saliou "Billy" Diallo is one of the many millions of people living
in the developing world, whose lifelong dream has been to seek his fortune
in the West.
As immigration controls in Western countries become stricter, they resort
to increasingly desperate methods to reach their "promised land", and every
year, an unknown number of people, probably in the tens of thousands, die
in the attempt.

Billy, 41, from Guinea, tells the extraordinary tale of how he crossed the
Sahara Desert to reach Morocco, where he smuggled himself into the Spanish
enclave of Ceuta. He is now working in Italy, where he has been given a
residence permit, and has just been back to see his family for the first
time since he set out on his adventure more than four years ago.


It has always been my dream to go Europe.

When I was a young boy, Africans living in Europe would visit us wearing
their fancy clothes and flashing their money around. We also knew some
French people, who told us how wonderful France was and that Father
Christmas lived there.

Growing up in the Fouta Djalon region of Guinea, life was extremely tough.
I had to walk 5km to and from school every day and then work in the fields
for three or four hours.


I was told it would take a week to reach Spain... Little did I know how
wrong that was

When I was 22, we moved to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, where I found
work helping out in the main hospital.
I got some training and became a nurse. I stayed there for 17 years and got
a medal for my long service.

Although I had a job, I could never look after my wife Idiatou and my baby
daughter as I would have wished on my meagre salary of $130.

I wanted to have my own house and give my children the good start in life I
never had.

Going to Europe seemed to be the best way to achieve these goals. Many of
my friends had emigrated - I felt I was being left behind.

Stranded

I had heard that travelling overland was much cheaper than flying - and you
didn't need a visa.

I was also told it would take a week to reach Spain. Little did I know how
wrong that was.


I left Dakar in November 1999, hoping to be in Europe for the millennium.

I paid $1,300 to a man, who said that would cover the cost of the
transport, food and water all the way to Europe. I left with just $90 on
me. I took the train to the Malian capital, Bamako, but there, the man I
had been told to contact said he hadn't been paid.

I phoned Dakar and asked for my money back. The man said he could only
refund $930, which my dad sent by Western Union.

Doubts

In Mali, I met people from across Africa - they were all trying to reach
Europe.

Speaking to them opened my eyes for the first time to the true dangers of
the overland trip.


I heard about many people who had died trying to cross the Sahara and met
some people who had decided to return home rather than risk losing their
lives.
I met a Senegalese man, who had reached Ceuta before being deported to the
border between Morocco and Algeria.

He had managed to make it back to Bamako but he had no money and his feet
were badly swollen from the journey back across the desert.

He told me that because of the conflict with Islamic radicals, the Algerian
police often shot on sight people they came across in remote areas.

I also heard about armed robbers who would rob migrants of all their money
and leave them for dead in the desert.

I was really afraid, but I was also encouraged when he said that three
people he had been with had managed to get into Europe.

I began to have real doubts about the trip and phoned my family. My mum was
terrified and told me to go back home. But my dad said that he had had a
dream that I would be okay. He blessed me and told me to carry on.

I met a man who said he was organising a trip. Eight of us flew to
Timbuktu, where we joined another seven migrants from across West Africa.

Graves in the desert

In Timbuktu the 15 of us got into the back of a lorry. We travelled by
night before reaching Gao, the last stop before the desert.


Our driver stopped and showed us the graves of seven people, including a 21-
year-old woman from Nigeria

There, we met thousands of other migrants waiting for transport across the
Sahara.
We bought bread and tinned sardines for the journey. We poured water into
the inner tubes of car tyres, which hold more than bottles. Normally we
only travelled at night.

That first afternoon, our driver stopped and showed us the graves of seven
people, including a 21-year-old woman from Nigeria.

He said he had found their bodies - their lorry had broken down in the
middle of the desert and they had waited in vain for help, before dying of
thirst.

I had terrible diarrhoea, probably because of the water. But I had to keep
on drinking it or I would become dehydrated.

At night, it was cold and windy - we were only covered by a tarpaulin in
the back of the lorry and hardly got any sleep.

During the day, we rested underneath the lorry, because that was the only
shade. But we couldn't sleep because of the suffocating heat. And the sand
got everywhere - in our noses, eyes, ears and throats.

It took a week to cross the Sahara before we reached Tindouf in Algeria.

There we were stopped by the police. Our driver was arrested and the police
beat us up. I have still got the scars on my back.

Mountain crossing

We had given our papers and money to the driver and we never saw him again.
We were given 24 hours to leave the country.


Luckily, one of the Nigerians had hidden some money in his shoes and he
gave us each $5. With that we bought some trinkets to sell so we could
raise enough money to continue our journey.
We stayed in Tindouf for three weeks in an abandoned house, until we met a
Senegalese man who told us he could take us across the border.

One Nigerian man had become very sick on the journey across the desert, so
he stayed in hospital in Tindouf.

Three others gave up the journey after we were told that we would have to
walk for 20km through the mountains into Morocco, to avoid the official
border crossings.

Our guide told us that lots of migrants died in these mountains after being
deported from Morocco and abandoned.

After two days of walking, the 11 of us reached a village, where we got a
bus to Casablanca.

Hope in sight

In all the time since we left Bamako - more than a month - we had not
washed. My body was covered in fleas and I had bites everywhere. It was
terrible - we looked like mad men.


It was an amazing sight - after all I had been through, to finally see my
destination, even if I knew I hadn't reached it yet

In Casablanca, five of us managed to find work on building sites but we
didn't earn much and we only ate one meal a day - a few mouthfuls of rice
and little fish.
I knew I would need to find more money to continue my journey and used some
of my first month's pay to phone home again.

My wife sold our television and my family managed to borrow some more money
from friends and relations.

When I went to pick up the $700 they sent me, I met two Senegalese men who
were also collecting money to pay for their trip to Europe.

They had a Moroccan guide, who agreed to take me as well, for $600.

In Casablanca, the three of us boarded a bus for Tangier, where we found a
hotel full of migrants, all trying to reach Europe.

That night, I went up to the roof-top and saw about 20 people gazing across
the Mediterranean Sea, where they could see the lights of the Spanish
mainland twinkling on the other side.

It was an amazing sight - after all I had been through, to finally see my
destination, even if I knew I hadn't reached it yet.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3520404.stm

Published: 2004/03/22 07:45:44 GMT

© BBC MMIV

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