Humanitarian Crisis in Ceuta: Thousands of Migrants Rely on Local Aid

In Ceuta, the local authorities estimate between 8 and 10,000 the number of migrants who have arrived in the Spanish enclave. 7,000 of them have left voluntarily or have been returned to Morocco. Among those who remain in Ceuta, mostly minors, some are housed in centers, where they sleep, are fed and receive basic hygiene products. Others are still on the streets of the city, living on the generosity of the inhabitants who are mobilizing to help them, reports RFI.

At 23 years old, Mamadou is a Guinean national, who like thousands of other young people his age, came to Ceuta by swimming. Before crossing the border, Mamadou walked from Tangier. Wandering the streets, he still wears the paper the hospital gave him last Tuesday after his arrival. He has not been taken care of in the many centers set up by the authorities and sleeps on a cardboard without any cover to keep warm. He lives on the generosity of the inhabitants, of families who come to enjoy the seaside. "To eat, we come here. There are people who share, there are some who give us food. It’s not regular, it’s from time to time that they give us."

Among the good-willed people who come to help these children, there are four people from a Ceuta family who come to distribute meals in plastic dishes, with a fruit juice box. The pot is placed in the large trunk of their car. "We are here to support these children. Because it’s true, they are children, they are not adults who can defend themselves alone. They have nothing to eat. They have no clothes. And so we come to their aid as best we can. We are anonymous families, we are not NGOs or anything. But there are all these children who could be ours, so we wanted to offer them a meal today," says RFI.

Rachida estimates she has given out more than a hundred meals. The pot is already empty when a last boy approaches. She regrets not having planned more but promises to come back, until the problem is solved. Like this family, many others are making this gesture towards the migrants wandering the streets.