Moroccan Mother and Five Daughters Find Shelter in Ceuta After Father’s Expulsion
After leaving the Fès region with her husband and their five daughters, Tamo, 35, is now alone in Ceuta after her husband was expelled to Morocco. With no lasting solution for housing her children, including an eight-month-old baby, she eventually received help from a resident of the El Príncipe neighborhood.
There were seven of them when they crossed the sea to reach Ceuta. Two months later, only six remain. Tamo, a 35-year-old Moroccan woman, must now care for her five daughters alone. The eldest is eleven; the youngest is just eight months old. Their father was sent back to Morocco, and the family has nowhere left to stay.
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Before making the crossing, they all lived in a village near Fès. In late July, during the mass arrivals of migrants in Ceuta, the parents and their children took to the sea wearing life jackets. A Spanish photographer captured them in the water at the time. Today, his images tell the story of a family separated.
For several weeks, Tamo and her daughters found refuge with residents of the El Príncipe neighborhood. But this temporary solution eventually ran out. According to the mother, her husband was expelled to Morocco a few days earlier following an incident involving alcohol and public disorder.
Left with her five children, she turned to neighborhood residents to find another solution. That is where Ahmed Enfed-Dal, 48, a social mediator and president of the El Príncipe residents’ association, stepped in.
A Ceuta resident steps in to help six Moroccan women
Ahmed knows the families who arrived during the summer well. Since July 30, he has seen migrants looking for somewhere to sleep pass through. “Some have returned to their country, others have stayed here,” he told the Spanish daily El País, which published a report on him this Friday, October 9.
The neighborhood is now home to many people seeking refuge after arriving in Ceuta. Some sleep in makeshift shelters, while others stay with residents. The recent eviction of the El Trampolín camp, set up near a beach, has further increased the number of migrants in its narrow streets.
Ahmed tries to respond to requests for help, which are particularly numerous among minors. His commitment is reminiscent of that of another social worker who came to help young Moroccans in Ceuta. For Tamo and her daughters, he decides to contact the Spanish authorities to find them a place in a reception facility.
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The effort eventually pays off. The mother and her five daughters are given a place in one of the ten accommodation programs set up by the Spanish government. When she is told the news, Tamo bursts with relief, the Spanish newspaper reports.
For this family from the Fès region, the search for a roof over their heads therefore ends favorably. But the separation remains: the father is still in Morocco, while his wife and their five daughters remain in Ceuta.
