The sad truth about the Beach Vendors on Costa del Sol

The journey from Mali to Marbella; from Senegal to Sotogrande; for the promise of a better life...



Disillusionment – ´Europe is not the way we expected it to be'



‘When people save for the dream of going to Europe, they don’t understand the reality of the journey or life here when they arrive. The journey itself can be fatal. Some make it as far as North Africa, but the Spanish, Moroccan or Mauritanian security forces often intercept groups of men, load them in buses and then dump them out in the desert with nothing; many die there. If they make it as far as getting on a boat, some die of exhaustion or illness and there have even been cases when security forces have overturned boats and killed immigrants.’



Source: SUR in English, an English newspaper in Andalusia, Spain.









The article on SUR in English, an Andalusian-based newspaper. To read, please click to enlarge.











Many of the African beach vendors are decent looking, they could easily hold normal jobs back home, and they are tall as well.



The African beach vendors on Costa del Sol are everywhere, they are exceptionally mobile and they often move about from one boulevard to the other, always on the look out for the policia. There was a time when I saw a few of them packing up all their goods in a jiffy, bolting through the crowds to the other direction of the beach. Oops 112 policia calling? If they are caught, would they be charged for illegal vendor squatting or selling fake designer goods? I would guess the former.



From what I’ve read and heard, most of them have tried their chances on the job market, and even though they speak 3 European languages—French, Spanish and English, with the current bleak unemployment outlook in Spain (-+22% now), there are obviously no jobs in sight. And because of this, they have succumbed to peddling fake designer bags, shades and watches on the coasts of Spain.



Whenever I see people trying hard to survive by very little means on the streets, it really stops me on my tracks, and makes me reflect. I just cannot help but well up a hope of sympathetic feelings for these people. Nevertheless, I am grateful for what I have.