Spain: Senegal migrant turns COVID nurse, activist

From a near-death trip across the Mediterranean in a wooden dinghy to taking care of COVID-19 patients in a Spanish hospital, Mbaye Babacar Diouf's life has taken a 180 degree turn.

At 15, the Dakar-born Babacar told his mother he was going to play football but instead embarked on a 4,500-kilometer (2800 mile) trip to Europe that involved crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.

That day, as he was helped by Red Cross personnel in the port, Mbaye was inspired to become a nurse, something he recently achieved after he completed his studies with the help of a Spanish family.

Having repaid his debts with human traffickers, he has even returned to Senegal and has set up an NGO to help Senegalese youngsters with education.

"The satisfaction I feel, first about the fact that I have made my dream come true of being a nurse and then doing my daily work, doing the work that I like and then seeing that also through our hands pass people who have been able to recover, this gives me a lot of strength," says the now 33-year-old nurse who is fluent in both local languages: Spanish and Basque and also speaks Wolof, French, English and German.

He has a stable job at the Basurto hospital in Bilbao but his aspirations haven't stopped there. Babacar's next goal is to become a doctor.

"What I would like in the future is to be able to expand my knowledge, study medicine, with the aim of being able to work it in my home country, in Senegal, and offer those services to those people who need it most," he said.

Long before he could call the Basque city of Bilbao home, there were tough nights sleeping in the open, surviving on peddling for migrant traffickers.

The times when he didn't dodge police raids and landed in a cell, his dream of becoming a nurse seemed elusive.

The idea had grown on him upon arrival in the Canary Islands in 2003.

At 15, hungry and dehydrated but lucky to survive a 10-day journey braving 8-meter (26 foot) waves, he was touched by the care Red Cross volunteers showed him and 137 others in his boat.

More than 17 years later, boats are now departing again in droves, this time pushed by the economic fallout of a pandemic and agreements that are bringing large boats of more powerful nations to Senegalese fishing grounds.

The same way Babacar was charged double rates for not having the cash to pay upfront for his trip, the mafias continue extending their tentacles deep into European soil, tracking their victims wherever they go and charging them for a place to sleep, a household registration document that can open doors to healthcare, or petty illegal jobs.

Some never escape the vicious circle of debt and irregularity.

The tables started turning for Babacar when he met Juan Gil, the man he now calls "Aita", using the Basque word for father.

Babacar was cleaning dishes at a bar. Gil needed some refurbishing work done at home. Soon, the young worker became a guest for every meal.

Gil had lost his mother recently and his daughter had moved out, so he offered Babacar to leave the overpriced bed he rented at a tiny shared apartment with 15 other men.

"As my daughter said when I told her that Mbaye was lucky, 'we were the lucky ones with him'," says Gil, 73, an artist and retired art teacher with a determination as big as his heart.

The friendship grew into a mix of reciprocal companionship.

At 28, after a lengthy and expensive battle against bureaucracy, Babacar officially adopted Juan's surnames, Gil Sánchez, and received his Spanish passport.

That stability allowed Babacar to pay back his remaining debt, send more money to relatives and finally enrol in a nursing school.

Upon graduation, he won a position with the Basque regional public health service and today spends his time between the hospital and his NGO, Sunu Gaal.

Sunu Gaal which means "Our Fishing Boat" in Senegal's Wolof language, aims at giving youngsters in Senegal "an education for them to have critical thinking," Babacar said, "so they can see that opportunities can also be found within the country."

In a recent gathering organized by Babacar, he and another six young men from Senegal, Ghana and Morocco shared stories of their unique life struggles to get ahead in Europe.

"It is true that all this migration journey that I have had to live through, I don't wish it to anyone because it is quite difficult and complicated," he says. "Now I am where I am, but I wish that all or most of us could have the same opportunities that I have had."

So far, none of the others have yet reached the same level of financial and social stability as Babacar has.

For this reason, he insists on spreading the word that there is no panacea to be found in Europe if the price to pay is drowning at sea or living in the shadows of the system forever.