The Difference a Journey Makes

Having men abroad can either sustain or destroy a family. Many of these immigrants send back enough money to support their families, sometimes enough to save or invest in a better home or business. Between 1995 and 2005, remittance payments into sub-Saharan Africa tripled, rising to an estimated $8 billion, according to the World Bank. In 2005, remittances made up nearly 7% of Senegal’s GDP, compared with an average 2% for all developing countries.

The benefit of cash sent home comes not only from higher wages but from exchange rates that favor foreign currencies over the weak West African bills. Even a meager salary as a blue-collar worker abroad far exceeds the highest paying jobs at home. A young man attending the funeral in Thianoye articulated why so many of his neighbors had left. “When we see so many nice houses from our neighbors abroad, what are we to think? If I want to buy a villa working here, it will take my life—but only a few years if I am sending money from abroad,” he said.

Earning enough for those villas requires sacrifice, not only for immigrants but also for those who are left behind. As foreign currencies flow in, the cost of living rises, making it even more difficult for those still in Africa. Young men are marrying later and later, an indication that they cannot earn enough to afford marriage before their 30s or 40s. And because it is often the most talented and ambitious young men who leave, communities are losing their most valuable asset to economic growth.

With men increasingly absent, the burden of generating income falls on the women who remain, who also find themselves charged with the task of caring for dependents. And when their husbands or sons die at sea, as up to 10% of those who try to emigrate do, the dependence on these women is intractable.

West Africa is placing its bets on the uncertain gamble for wealth abroad. At home, parents often encourage their children to emigrate. A woman selling fish in a Dakar market told the Globalist, “If I had a son who wanted to go, I would be in agreement with his decision. He could help me out.” But that thought led her to a more immediate reality. “The women are tired,” the weathered fish vendor said, for they bear the economic and familial burdens at once while men are away.

The View from Across the Way

“Immigration has always been a part of Europe, but not on such a large scale,” said Mohammed Baba, co-founder of MEXIT Intercultural Management in the Netherlands and the son of a Moroccan immigrant who remained in Europe. “Beginning with guest worker programs, there used to exist an idea that immigrant workers were guests who would return to their home countries. But as these guest workers stayed in Europe, bringing and raising families with them, both native Europeans and immigrants began to realize this idea was not realistic. This change has largely occurred in the last five to ten years.”

And most immigrants stay in Europe, despite strong ties to home and the frequent sending of remittances back to Africa. European concerns surrounding immigration range from fears of economic drain on generous welfare systems to racist and chauvinistic attitudes toward newcomers. Due to these factors, the word “immigrant” evokes a negative image for 50% of the French, according to a recent survey conducted by the French Ministry of the Interior. And between the spring and fall of 2006, the number of respondents who cited immigration as the first or second most pressing concern facing Europe rose from 12% to 17%.

With arrivals coming from nearly every country in northern and western Africa and settling in as many European countries, policy towards African immigration has proven to be extensive and divisive, particularly when the conflicting interests of countries have caused them to autonomously enact differing policies on immigration.

Explaining the difficulties surrounding legislation on immigration, Stefaan De Rynck, a spokesperson for the Commission of the European Union, told the Globalist that EU members have trouble coordinating immigration strategies. “National political pressures, which are different in each country; strong desires for national sovereignty throughout Europe; and general legislative inertia are major obstacles to a collaborative immigration policy,” he said. De Rynck noted that each country currently has veto power over all EU legislation, making it difficult to pass EU-wide laws. However, European countries might soon experience a change in their willingness to work together. According to De Rynck, “the recent events in Spain [the mass immigration to the Canaries and the decision to grant amnesty] may contribute to more collaboration in the future, as more countries are saying, ‘This is our border, not just the Spanish border.’”

With the EU so far unable to coordinate immigration policy across the continent, individual countries have enacted differing policies. Spain’s decision last year to grant amnesty to over half a million illegal immigrants came shortly before France cracked down on illegals, in part by evicting illegal immigrants living in what French officials euphemistically refer to as “sensitive urban zones”—in reality, abandoned buildings on the outskirts of Paris. Such differences in policy concern many in Europe because of the free movement of goods and people within the EU established by the 1985 Schengen Agreement. Much as increased patrolling along one coast often just leads immigrants to depart from or arrive at a different coast, amnesty granted by one country will push or pull immigrants from country to country within Europe, an effect termed “squeezing the balloon.”