Public Project
The Mothers of Thiaroye Sur Mer
"To leave is a matter of survival. Here there is no money, no job, nothing to do. Without a job the guys will always leave."
Thiaroye-sur-mer, is a fishing community of 40 thousand inhabitants of the city of Pikine, located east of Dakar. Only in 2005/06 they lost 878 men while on their way to Europe.
This is a story about the mothers of those missing sons who disappeared at sea or vanished in the deserts of Mali and Libya during the long journeys of hope towards Europe.
Mothers who don't even know if, when, how and where their sons died. Patiently, they spend their days in pain and expectation and still wait, every moment, for that call.
They didn't celebrate their son's funeral and will never do.
The dangers that exist, not only in the Mediterranean, but also in the Atlantic Ocean and in the desert, doesn't discourage migration. People's wish to be in the First World is too strong.
A recent survey on a sample of 250 potential Senegalese migrants, revealed that less than a half of the respondents (48%) thinks that death is a real risk. In second place were listed imprisonment (25%) and forced return (10%).
We always look at those who arrive in our borders.
I felt important to focus on the women that remained behind, at home, fighting with poverty and sense of loss.
August 2016, Diana Bagnoli
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