A boat with 50 African migrants on board is feared lost off the Canary Islands. These Spanish outposts have become a staging posts for African people fleeing grinding poverty in their homelands. They brave the waters of the Atlantic in flimsy boats, and uncounted numbers will have been lost over the past few months and years. In 2006, 30,000 arrived in the Canaries from nearby Africa. Across in the Mediterranean, the small Italian island of Lampedusa is playing host to 900 migrants, in a camp that only has capacity for 190.
News bulletins continue to feature horror stories about this exodus, but no attempt appears to be made to address the root cause that prompts these desparate people to chance their lives on the ocean waves.
Below map (courtesy BBC) shows key migration routes from Africa to Europe.
That is sad....much like the Cubans over here taking whatever kind of boat they can rig together just to make it to the US.
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~Amy
What are the roots? I believe that human beings have always migrated from one continent to another, like animals, they look for soil where it is possible to live; it is surely easier for animals than it is for humans who are their own predators.
ReplyDeleteI admire their courage, a lot; this said, if the UK could help me go back in France, I would be very grateful <<smiling>>
Valerie
Oh those poor people having to flee conditions in their native places of abode, what desperation they must feel to do that. I can't imagine falling into such dire straits. Somewhat like our Mexican neighbors risking the burning desert and being unwanted to cross into the U.S. Gerry
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