Portal de Cartagena
www.portaldecartagena.com
Traveled 3,052 miles Mamadou Dia chasing a dream.
The Senegalese now settled Murcia, launched in 2006 with only 22 years, the trip of a lifetime on board a canoe which took him from the African coast to La Gomera.
In this canoe he saw the face of death and learned the value of life.
Before his departure, the young man promised his friends that if he could save her life, one day write his adventure in the pages of a book.
Most of them have died, in small boats, but he still had his word.
The promise fulfilled Mamadou already has a title, the 3052-km distance there is between Dakar and Murcia, and was born with the firm hope of helping his people. It will be presented in the Sea of Music on July 23, in the literary section, La Mar de Letras, the festival.
Mamadou lived to be 22 years Gandiol, a small coastal town north of the country near the border with Mauritania. From 2000 to 2006 the country was increasingly down, relates in his book. Many children saw their youth and within of a cube.
The lack of prospects led many Senegalese to dream of the 'European gold' and decided to make the leap.
Mamadou was one of them.
Along with his two brothers, the young man ran one of the trips that would take them to the Canary Islands. We could not pay us the trip and so we make three squares, he says.
A small boat traveling at 84 compatriots led him to La Gomera.
Only got 83.
Were eight-day trip that changed her life. Two days before arriving in La Gomera and we had no gas, food or water, remember. Everyone was lying in the dinghy waiting for death.
There was a cloud of despair.
The arrival of another boat, with that given the petrol to get to the island, saved their lives. Reaching Spain was, for us, how to achieve a dream.
After stepping on European soil, Mamadou soon realize that the reality was different than expected. It has nothing to do with our dream he says.
After flying to Madrid, this young man was taken in Castellón until a fellow invited him to spend some time in Cartagena.
Since then live in Murcia.
Shortly after arriving in this region, Mamadou became Red Cross volunteer, and in that role, has had the opportunity to assist in the arrival of boats in the region. It is a beautiful experience because I see people in that situation and I know no one better than I can feel what they need, he stresses. Red Cross was my first family in Spain.
In all my lifetime that will remain voluntary on the bottle of water that girl gave me when I arrived in La Gomera.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
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