Africans Struggle To Reach Europe in Search of a Better Life

Situated in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of northern Africa, the Spanish island of Tenerife is a holiday-makers paradise. In the tourist-stronghold of Los Cristianos, hotel after hotel is lined up along the bay.

But it not only draws tourists -- thousands of refugees from West Africa are dragged in by the coast guard and rescued from the ocean.

A hellish journey

The refugees travel in simple wooden boats with weak diesel engines. They arrive during the day and at night and it takes about 10 days for them to reach Tenerife. Dreaming of a better life in Europe, they risk their lives on the journey.

On a recent day, 90 young men from Africa with shaky legs and water-logged possessions clamber out of a boat that has sunk nearly a third under water. The coast watch just pulled the boat into the harbor of Los Cristianos.

These African men have experienced hell on their journey. They spent 11 days on the high seas, without enough to eat or drink and were frozen by the cold at night and then burnt by the sun. They were hardly able to move, developing cramps because their boat was overloaded.

Rescue mission

Coast guards help the refugees, giving out breathing masks and then taking them to members of the Spanish Red Cross, who were already waiting for them. Team leader Austin Taylor said he and his colleagues had already set up three tents to provide refugees with medical help.

Taylor said his team regularly experiences emotionally moving moments.

''You give someone water and they begin to cry," he said. "You help someone out of the sinking boat and they kiss the ground. Sometimes there are small children on- board.''

The 90 arrivals have left behind Senegal. They have just landed in Europe and do not want to make themselves vulnerable to deportation or say anything that will jeopardize their case. They sit silently on the floor in the tents and get plastic bags with some dry items. They drink tea and nibble cookies and some need a drip with warm fluid in order to recover.

Taylor said overall it has all gone well.

"To survive a trip this dangerous in such an unfit boat for so many days in such crowed conditions and without protection, you have to be very tough," he said.

An hour later, three police buses roll in and three young African men climb in with stiff legs. A couple of tourists that are waiting for the first ferry to the nearby island of La Gomera take photos behind the barrier tape.

Uncertain future for refugees

At the police headquarters, Spanish officials make every single African go through formal procedures for illegal immigration. Afterwards, they are taken to one of the well-hidden detention centers located on military property. Outside contact with a postcard-world of the tourists is unwelcome.

But Los Cristianos Police Chief Luis Carrion referrs to the new arrivals as immigrants, not fugitives.

"They are very polite and are not an annoyance," he said. "They are friendly, ambitious and disciplines."

The bleary-eyed Red Cross team members clean the tents and hope for a couple of hours sleep. However everyone assumes this was not the last boat this day.

For the 90 young Africans, an uncertain future awaits. Under Spanish law they must be released after 40 days. If by then it is still unclear as to where they came from, or there is no repatriation agreement with their homeland, then they will have to remain.

However, without the correct papers, none in the group will be able to work. Most are brought to the Spanish mainland, where they plunge into the metropolises -- in the hope of getting a correct residence permit.

A young man that arrived with the first group of 20, probably from Sengal, was left in a detention center for about two weeks.

Now he hangs around at the promenade of Los Cristianos and works illegally. But he did not leave his family just to do that. He wants to go to a big city like Barcelona or Madrid where there is the promise of real work.

"I am a hard worker," the young man said. " I am not a bad person."