Nouadhibou, Mauritania (AP) – Devoted students across West Africa are raising their hands as teachers guide them through mathematics and classic Arabic. They then race outdoors to meet their parents, clean their homes, drive informal taxis, and drive in Chinese factories.
Outside, government signs show busy boats navigating the Atlantic thrashing waves, urging these families and others to fight “immigrant smuggling.” Inside, the poster warns that the oceans can be fatal.
Such messaging is difficult to escape at Nuadou, the second largest city in Mauritania and the launch point for an increasingly popular immigration route to Europe. As authorities tighten security measures on long-standing routes, immigrants are relying on Longer and more dangerous. from Mauritaniathey reach Spain risking hundreds of miles of sea and wind Canary Islands.
The route creates new tensions in the 177,000 port city on the edge of the Sahara. The outdated infrastructure and dirt roads have not kept pace as European and Chinese investments are poured into the fishing industry and migrants and their children arrive from Syria and Syria. Pakistan.
Schools for Immigrant and Refugee Children are a type of programme that was established in 2018 as an early response to growing needs and is envisaged as part of the programme. 210 million euros ($219 million) agreement The European Union and Mauritania were mediated last year.
Transactions – Some one Europe has signed with neighboring states to stop migration. It is a program that supports Border Patrol, Development Assistance, refugees, asylum seekers and host communities.
This is a response to rising European alarms and anti-immigration politics. Approximately 47,000 immigrants have arrived on the boat Canary Last year, “records of fuel being provided by departures MauritaniaEven if flows from other starting points slow, according to the EU border agency Frontex. Almost 6,000 children were unaccompanied children under the age of 18.
Tracking deaths at sea It’s difficultHowever, Spanish nonprofit Walking Borders says at least 6,800 people have been killed or gone missing While trying to cross last year. The conditions are very strict Drifting along the course It could end in Brazil or the Caribbean.
Few believe that many praise initiatives that meet the overlooked needs of migrants and refugees are effective in discouraging Europe from departing.
“We cannot stop moving,” said Amsatou Vepouyoum, chairman of the city’s leading immigration aid group, the city’s main immigration aid group. “But we want to improve the conditions for people to leave by raising awareness.”
Preparing for an uncertain future
The organization surveyed the immigrant population several years ago and discovered that education was one of the biggest barriers to integration in Mauritania.
Bill van Esveld, a child rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said it was true all over the world. Many countries where immigrants and refugees pass bureaucratic hurdles to access schools, he said.
“Without literacy or numbers, how can you defend yourself as a human rights person in today’s world?” Van Esveld said.
Mauritania’s Ministry of Education in January has confirmed that refugee children are entitled to public schools. However, it does not apply to many migrants who are not qualified as refugees due to lack of birth certificates, residential papers, and school records and face difficulties in enrollment.
Nuadou Schools for Immigrants and Refugee Children teach similar curricula and Arabic in schools of 5-12 runs alongside the Mauritania school system.
Although the family often doesn’t intend to stay in Mauritania, parents still describe the school as a lifeline for their children’s future.
“Sometimes, life situations leave you somewhere, so you adapt and what’s going on leads to keeping you there,” Vepouyoum said.
Weak surveillance and worrying parents
From a European perspective, aid to such initiatives is part of a greater effort to persuade people not to migrate. Some experts say it demonstrates a disconnect between political goals and earthly reality.
“The European Union has always announced these big sums, but it’s very difficult to understand how the money is actually spent,” said Ulf Laessing, Sahel Program Director at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think tank.
Both schools and organizations for the support of migrants and refugees, along with UN agencies, highlighted their work by the EU and member states. No one has said how much money they spent on schools or other programs aimed at immigration in Mauritania.
The school also said it could charge students based on what families can afford and pay rent for the two-storey Cinderblock building and utilities.
However, the four parents who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were worried about their child being kicked out said the baseline monthly fee for 600 Mauritanian Ouguiya ($15) per child is too high.
“If you can’t pay, they’ll kick you out,” said the father of two students in Mali.
He said many parents want to give their children the opportunity they lacked in their home countries. He has heard from other parents that enrolling in the Canary Islands is easy, but the limited access to education is also a problem.
The Nouadhibou school says it has educated more than 500 students. They are not tracking the number that continues towards Europe.
Pressure to move forward
The times of nouadhibou are changing. Community leaders and business owners are concerned that increasing competition for work has fueled doubts about foreign-born communities.
That includes workers from neighboring Senegal and Mali who settled in the city many years ago. According to Kader Konate, a community leader in Mali, outreach will be easier among long-term immigrants as newcomers are worried about getting their attention, as they are worried about getting their attention.
Many immigrants say they just need help.
“We’re doing this because we feel like we have no other options,” Boureima Maiga said.
The 29-year-old graduate graduate graduated with a degree in education as extremist violence escalated. On many days he is waiting at Nuadou Port with hundreds of other immigrants, hoping to work in the fish factory.
However, without a residency or work visa, they often turn their backs or get paid sparingly.
Maiga feels that the deep racial division between Arab and black Africans is confined to a country that makes integration nearly impossible and widespread discrimination by employers. He doesn’t know where to go next.
“Just let me work. I can do a lot of work,” he said. “Everyone knows how to do something.”
Meanwhile, every day he picks up his nie at a Catholic school and hopes that it will give them life beyond such worries.
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