The situation of migrants in Barcelona

In January 2024, I had the opportunity to travel to Barcelona for 3 days and I had a great time, aside from my time spent sightseeing and eating local delicacies, I’ve noticed some things.

at the moment, in plenty of African countries, there is a political instability, my country, Guinean for example is under a military government. These circumstances and lack of opportunities available to the youth causes them to find ways to leave the country. Due to lack of documentation, a lot choose to go abroad through dangerous routes such as flying to Latin America and heading to the USA or flying or taking the bus to morroco/algeria/libya to be able to better their life. This is very dangerous and many die in the way. At the moment, one of my aunts son is trying to go to Europe though Algeria and the entire family is scared for his safety. Many people become trafficked in Libya and many women are trafficked to Dubai to work as house maids and get their passports taken away.

In Barcelona, I saw plenty of black men who had seemed to have immigrated through the waters. Whenever I see a black person outside, it’s normal to make eye contact and say hello. This can come in very handy when you’re navigating a new country as you can ask them for directions or recommendations. But also it gives us a sense of community, that no matter what, we are brothers and sisters and looking out for each other.

In Barcelona, many of the black men I was seeing while walking in the streets were working dangerous jobs such as pushing carts full of metals which I assume they were recycling. Is that the only job available to them? Are they being remunerated enough? Were questions that popped in my head. I didn’t have the courage to ask them those questions as they are quite personal. I hope their situation becomes better and that their quality of life improves because they’ve gone through so much.

These interactions always remind me of the privilege that I have, that my parents had the documentation necessary to be able to immigrate safely because if I had stayed in guinea, I may have had the same desperation and tried to leave the country the same ways they did.

In these man, I saw my family, I saw myself, I could tell from their physical traits that we come from the same region so it really hits home. With everything going on in the world, I am so privileged to be in the position that I am and I hope that as I get older I can find ways to help people.