Get out of poverty and fulfill the dream of a better existence, even risking life in the endeavor. This is the common denominator of a group of around seventeen sub-Saharan immigrants, without papers, who arrived in Barcelona after spending a true odyssey.

Originally from Senegal, they entered the Canary Islands illegally after an infernal trip in cayuco. After passing through a CIE (Foreigners Internment Center) and their transfer to the Peninsula they spent some time in different cities.

The problems derived from the overexploitation of Senegal's natural resources by the great Western powers that impede the development of artisanal fishing, together with a generalized situation of corruption, are some of the reasons that led them to think about finding a better future for them. and their families.

They are young men, Muslims, some have left women and children in their country. With the little money they send home, their families live better than they do here. In spite of everything, they do not want to return to their country. Meanwhile, they resign themselves, because they are aware that they are helping their people to have a better life.

An abandoned factory, located in the center of Barcelona has been home for a while. Since then the factory has been demolished; the most fortunate have found a floor in terrible conditions. The others have occupied another space.

Displaced from their culture, without their families, undocumented and without money, they try to survive in the most dignified way possible; the problem is that the "system" forms a closed circuit in which it is complex to enter, without papers there is no work and without work there are no papers. Her dream is to get documentation, access a job and have a house to bring their families. But the real situation, for now, is another, waiting for the objectives that brought them to this country finally become reality.

Marta Mantecón