Boubacar

   Boubacar was a kid from Mondoro, a little village in Mali. Growing up in the poor village, the boy had a very basic life mission: to survive and to make it to the next day.

Boubacar parents worked in a cattle farm, one of common jobs to do in the village. They worked very hard everyday to feed him and his other five brothers, you can imagine how hard it is to look after six children in such miserable life conditions.

 

   At the age of seven, Boubacar started work. He followed his parents steps and helped them in the farm. He worked everyday as his parents couldn’t afford his education.

Boubacar was a very curious and intelligent kid: he couldn’t go on without asking questions. He questioned almost everything: why he needed to pray, why his parents brought him to life if they couldn’t afford it and so on. But as the years went by, the most dominant question in this mind was “Why we have to suffer and be poor? “.

He looked for the answer from the village’s Islamic preacher but the answer was not up his expectations. Imam Mahmoud’s response was that it is the god’s will and the kid must accept it and be grateful to be alive.

He asked his parents the same question. They told him off and ordered him to focus on feeding the cows and cleaning the awaiting piles of shit in the farm.

 

Boubacar had a friend, Seydou who was ten years older than him. Seydou was a very chatty kid and he always had things to say. Most the time, it was all about village gossips.

But there was a particular story that has always grabbed the attention of Boubacar. It was the story of the oversea far land, the real heaven on earth Eropa: the continent of Europe in their local language.

When Seydou talked about his cousin Ibrahim from Eropa, Boubacar put every task on hold and listened carefully. Seydou talked about the pictures of his cousin that he sent to the family: pictures of Ibrahim with girls, driving a car and wearing fancy sport clothes.

Comparing to the life that Boubacar had in the village, that sounded like a dream to him.

Things remained the same for few years, until that day when the young kid was cleaning the animals waste and suddenly he got a hard kick in head by one of the cows.

He immediately lost conscious and woke up few minute after that: his face and his mouth were full of shit. That moment the kid decided that this is enough and he refused to accept the idea of spending the rest of his life like that: literally deep in shit.

So Boubacar started often to lie to his parents that some people robbed him and took the few coins he earned. He made up crazy stories so he could spare the coins for himself rather give to his family and he buried it under one tree in the nearby mountain.

He also started to make new friendships with older boys in the village. He would sit down with them for hours at night and listen to their stories about girls and fist fights. But the true and only interest he had is in Eropa stories.

 

   One night, the discussion about Eropa came up and someone said: “I know of a unique opportunity guys.” And he immediately he had all the attention.

The guy added:”There is a farmer from a nearby town who will be crossing the border to Algeria. He will be driving a lorry and he will be transporting raw Tobacco. The farmer is willing to risk and take five people with him for the price of one million Francs for each individual and the departure date will be the first day of next month”

To put that in perspective, one million of their currency was an approximate of one thousand and eight hundred US dollars. Such an amount of money was enough for a family of five or six members to survive for more than two years.

Boubacar’s heart immediately started to beat so fast and his adrenaline level reached an unprecedented peak. This is a life time opportunity that he waited for and a step closer to Eropa, the heaven on earth.

The guy with the valuable news added: “Furthermore, the farmer can link you up with an Algerian fisherman, who can hide you in his boat and help you to cross the sea and reach the Spanish coast. Eropa will be yours if you can pay the fisherman two million Francs.”

At the end of that night, Boubacar asked the guy to contact the farmer to count him in.

Boubacar had over one and a half million buried under the tree and he was willing to do anything to get the rest.

He recalled that his mother had a gold necklace that she inherited from her mother. He was aware also that his father hided some money for emergencies in his old rusty building tools box, that one even had interest to look at.

All was set and the night of the departure has come. Boubacar had no hesitation: He took his father’s money and his mother’s necklace and sneaked out. He was willing to do whatever it takes to get the money.

He went to his tree, digged the ground and he collected his buried little fortune.

Boubacar walked few hours during that night in order to reach the departure point.

 

When he was finally there, he met the farmer. He gave him the required one million Francs and he jumped inside the lorry’s metal covered trunk.

Once the five young men were on board, the farmer loaded all the raw Tobacco boxes and locked firmly the trunk’s door.

The farmer had a deal with some corrupted Algerian border control unit: he needed to take a particular desert route, enter Algeria through a specific border control checkpoint, and he had to pay them three million Francs.

All was working according to the plan and the farmer hit the road.

Inside the trunk, Boubacar was so scared and very cold. He was suffering from the lack of oxygen and the strong smell of the raw Tobacco.

He had vivid pictures of his new life in his head: driving a car, wearing nice shoes and having a nice time with a girl who looked nothing like the village ones.

He had a strong belief that he would reach Eropa and that he would start a new life. He knew he would be successful, he knew that he was smart and very ambitious.

After several hours of departure, they arrived to the checkpoint.

The farmer was in shock: there was a different unit at the checkpoint for unknown reasons and the soldiers asked him to turn off the engine and get off the lorry.

The farmer tried to act normal and to answer the routine questions concerning his destination, what he was transporting and the legal documents. But he failed to hide his panic and he was agitated.

The soldiers immediately acknowledged the suspicious behaviour and soon enough the unit’s commander gave the order to search every inch the lorry and unload the merchandise.

Inside the truck Boubacar and the boys had a feeling that something is not right. They were confused and scared. And shortly they realised that the lorry is being unloaded.

The suspicious and scared Boubacar mhad a tough decision to make: whatever the consequences would be, he got ready to jump of the trunk and run as fast as he could without looking back. He decided that he would worry about all the rest later.

When the soldiers almost unloaded all the boxes, it become clear to Boubacar that they were being caught but he had no intention to change what he decided.

With the last big box removed from the lorry, Boubacar immediately jumped out and he started to run like a tiger.

The commander shouted in French: ”Arrêtez vous immédiatement ou nous ouvrirons le feu, je répète arrêtez vous ou nous ouvrirons le feu.” which is : “stop immediately or we will open fire, I repeat stop or we will open fire.“.

The scared boy had no clue of what they were shouting and he had no intention to stop in any case.

The commander soon enough shouted to the soldiers: “Tirez!” which is “Shoot!”.

A second later Boubacar was on the ground, the ambitious boy from Mondoro was soaking in his blood.

The medical unit rushed immediately to the scene but the kid has lost already so much blood and his soul shortly left his body.

The other four boys remained in the lorry and were arrested.

If he remained in the trunk with them, he would’ve survived also but Boubacar died and so did his dreams.

The thought of going back to his village, the thought of facing his parents after stealing from them, the amount of shit that he had to clean everyday was unbearable for him.

 

   Although this is not a real story, but similar tragedies and worst take place every year.

Whether in Africa, South America or other regions, thousands of men, women and children attempt to cross the sea or the desert to reach the lands of opportunities and run away from civil wars and extreme poverty.

Many people like Boubacar risk their lives seeking very basic things: dignity, freedom, safety, food, clean water, house, work etc.

Many will argue that Boubacar could’ve stayed in Mondoro and live a long life, could’ve tried to change his reality or simply should’ve accepted his fate: a valid point of view but it is easily said when you don’t have to have cow shit in your mouth everyday for all your life.