{"id":1214,"date":"2013-11-16T15:23:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T15:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=1214"},"modified":"2024-04-19T19:24:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:24:14","slug":"el-hajj-migrants-at-the-university-ghala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=1214","title":{"rendered":"El Hajj, migrants at the university, Ghala"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had thought we would only be visiting the two camps, but CEI has decided to take us to a third also, known as Ghala, very close to the border with Algeria.\u00a0 But there is the man with the broken leg who needs medicine: we wait a while on the road by the first camp, waiting for him or for some proxy for him to come to collect some medicine.\u00a0 Then we drive to the edge of the university, where we wait for the team who went to distribute blankets at the university to join us.
\n\"P1000537\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are parked across from the place where El Hajj was killed.\u00a0 According to Ruben\u2019s latest information, El Hajj was indeed in conflict with the Nigerians over a variety of matters, partly associated with the trafficking of migrants and partly associated with drug trafficking. Not a boy scout, El Hajj.\u00a0 His work here in Oujda was in producing false documentation for people; he may have been in cahoots with people in the Moroccan government to produce these documents.\u00a0 He himself had false papers that said he was a student, which is why the newspapers at first reported that a student had been killed.<\/p>\n

El Hajj had indeed been kidnapped, but back in April, and he had gotten free. He had also gone into Algeria, to Maghnia, where the migrants are organized into groups, to argue with the Nigerians there–he had taken Germans to Maghnia\u2014and the Nigerians in Oujda were angry about that.\u00a0 Then he came back to the university, and he peed in the wrong place.<\/p>\n

Seriously. \u00a0He peed in the wrong place. \u00a0In the migrant community on the outskirts of the university, there are different nationalities, and the people in charge have specified different areas where members of the different groups can pee: El Hajj peed in the wrong place.\u00a0 For this insult, they began to beat him\u2014but the beating was also a result of all the other things he had done to anger the Nigerians.\u00a0 People seem to believe that he died as a result of the beating, but that this was accidental\u2014things got out of hand.\u00a0 Then, since it was the Eid, and everyone had sacrificed their sheep, there was blood everywhere, and so they dismembered his body to try to disguise his death, and they took the pieces out into the forest and left them.<\/p>\n

Migrants at the university<\/b><\/p>\n

Eric and Michelle Derry, two other members of our group, spent some time talking with Elijah, a 23-year-old Gambian. Elijah is one of 6 children; all the rest are girls.\u00a0 It took him five months to get to Oujda, and he arrived the day the Ghanaian was killed.\u00a0 \u201cMy dream is dying,\u201d he told the Derry\u2019s.\u00a0 Elijah had made one attempt to cross the border: he described 15-20 people squeezing into a five-seater car: some went in the trunk.\u00a0 \u201cThese are just the sacrifices you make to follow your dreams. You save your money and they take you to another camp, just before Mellila.\u00a0 If you have good luck, you get in; if not, you\u2019re beaten.\u00a0 I got sent back: my luck was bad.\u00a0 Still, when I see a girl, I forget all my own troubles, because they are the ones who really have it bad.\u00a0 Thank you for bringing me a blanket, mommy,\u201d Elijah says to Michelle. \u201cTonight I will sleep, with my blanket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric also described seeing a man shouting, threatening people.\u00a0 A small group of men closed in on him.\u00a0 \u201cPeople go a little crazy, sometimes,\u201d another man told Eric. \u201cThat\u2019s what this life does to you.\u00a0 We take care of it.\u201d\u00a0 The man who was shouting ended up on the ground, with his shirt ripped, but quiet.<\/p>\n

Ghala<\/strong><\/p>\n

We drive to Ghala down tracks that skirt the edges of square fields, barren at this moment except for a luxuriant burst of prickly pear near the occasional building.\u00a0 Ghala is the camp nearest the border; people here occupy a cluster of cement buildings. There are no windows or doors\u2014but someone has draped a blanket over the door to keep the wind out.
\n\"P1000539\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are met by a small group: three men (Mike, Victor, and Siri) and one women (Blessing).\u00a0 As at the Lambert camp, most people are gone.\u00a0 Siri tells us the women have taken the children to the city for vaccinations.\u00a0 Blessing took her baby Destiny the day before, which is why they are here today.
\n\"P1000547\"<\/a> \"P1000548\"<\/a>\"P1000542\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\"P1000545\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We ask how things have been at the camp, and Siri tells us they have not had much trouble with police over the past four months\u2014which matches the date of the king\u2019s proclamation.<\/p>\n

Still, Siri talks about how the community struggles to live: \u201cWe work all day, sunup to sundown, picking olives for 70d. But this is not enough to live on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone here comes from the Delta state of Nigeria.\u00a0 But many many migrants arrive in Morocco at Ghala though they move on to other communities shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

While we are there, a man from another community (Paul) comes up and addresses Victor as the father of the community.\u00a0 Siri immediately objects: \u201cHe\u2019s not the father: I\u2019m the father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul apologizes: \u201cI\u2019m sorry for the mistake.\u00a0 The other times I was here, he (Victor) was the only one here and I thought he was the father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siri: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a mistake.\u00a0 But I am the father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor remains silent throughout.\u00a0 There is a sense of deep and troubled waters here.<\/p>\n

So too the presence of Blessing is a worrying reminder of a 15-year-old girl with the same name who was rescued from Ghala and brought to a safe house in Rabat after being gang-raped here.<\/p>\n

Still, the community gathers for prayers as well as for blankets. \u00a0What else is there?
\n\"P1000541\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had thought we would only be visiting the two camps, but CEI has decided to take us to a third also, known as Ghala, very close to the border with Algeria.\u00a0 But there is the man with the broken leg who needs medicine: we wait a while on the road by the first camp, … Continue reading El Hajj, migrants at the university, Ghala<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4JDdJ-jA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2872,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions\/2872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}