THE LEAST OF US
In their eloquent simplicity, some of the most beautiful words ever spoken are attributed to Jesus.
“Whatsoever ye do to the least of us, ye do unto me.”
Austin Wainwright,
a worker with the Spanish Red Cross, describes helping African migrants who arrive in the Canary Islands after days at sea in small boats.
To get here from Mauritania takes about four to six days. From Senegal it can be two weeks, more if they get lost. In one case it was about 20 days.
Most come in open wooden boats.
One we had this morning was carrying 98 people, though there have been up to 170.
“We have seen grown men start crying or kissing the ground when they finally touch land.”
BBC article here
More than 20,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the Canaries this year, four times the total for 2005. Estimates of the number that have died enroute are as high as 3,000.
The Canary Islands
located off the west coast of Africa have become one of the main points of entry for illegal immigrants seeking to reach the European Union.
The Spanish government has been negotiating with African nations in an attempt to stem the number of migrants and has called on other EU countries for help in patrolling international waters.
The EU began an operation in August to turn back small boats carrying migrants from Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands.
BBC article here
Authorities in Spain’s Canary Islands have raised concerns over 700 unaccompanied children who have arrived by boat.
The Canary Islands says it does not have the resources to care properly for the children - and wants the rest of Spain and the European Union to help.
Under Spanish law, the Canary Islands is obliged to care for and educate these young arrivals until they reach the age of 18.
BBC story here
