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Red Cross volunteer comforting sobbing migrant and diver rescuing baby go viral: The human side of the border crossing
25/05/2021
A RED Cross worker has been reunited with a migrant who collapsed sobbing in her arms during the recent mass rescue operation in Ceuta, the photograph of which went viral on social media.
Luna Reyes was one of the team attending to the sub-Saharan Africans who made it through the border fence from Morocco or who swam to the Spanish-owned coastal city when a diplomatic disagreement between two countries who are old friends led to 8,000 migrants managing to enter European territory.
Only a few hundred made it through without being sent back, including around 200 unaccompanied children and teenagers, who will be placed in young persons' shelters across the mainland.
One of those who was sent back after swimming to Ceuta was Abdou, 27, from Sénégal, who was pictured being comforted by Luna, inconsolable, on the Spanish city's Tarajal beach.
He and his elder brother had left their native west African country five years ago in a desperate bid to seek a life free from poverty where they could work and send money home to keep their family fed.
They had been living with their grandmother and made it to Morocco a year later.
For the past four years, they had been camping out in Morocco and making numerous attempts to get past the border into Europe.
When they found out recently that Morocco was 'opening its borders with Spain', Abdou and his brother spent a whole night walking from Tangiers to Castillejos, at the Ceuta border, then waded into the sea and swam for it.
Both young men reached Ceuta's Tarajal beach, Abdou utterly exhausted and his brother unconscious with a very weak pulse.
Luna, 20, from Móstoles (Madrid), is a Red Cross volunteer and currently based in her mum Inma's native city of Ceuta carrying out the compulsory work experience units for her FP in Social Integration – the equivalent qualification level of a BTEC HND, or two-thirds of a degree – and was one of those called out to the Tarajal beach at the height of the mass migrant entry.
She was giving them water to drink and general support and first aid, and when she got to Abdou, he fell sobbing into her arms.
Afterwards, she wrote on Twitter, with some energy and indignation, that the sight of the arrivals had made her heart sink, adding: “I don't believe in any God, but I'm sure if I'd gone through what these people have been going through, I would.”
She was also photographed with a wiped-out Abdou lying down, resting his head on her lap as she soothed him in his distress.
“So much frustration, so much physical and mental exhaustion and so much anger,” she wrote.
“Humanitarian aid is not about 'getting rid of' people, it's about attending to their needs and, especially, in situations like this...it's quite rare to be thanked for something that should be perfectly normal.”
Although the pictures of Luna and Abdou have, for many, summed up the wretched nature of the migrants' ordeal, Luna, sadly, had to take her Twitter account off line for a while due to a minority of racist and sexist comments, some even of a sexual nature.
Now Abdou has spoken to Luna again via video call from the migrant centre he has been placed in, in Casablanca, he has condemned the online attacks against his helper.
Abdou says he 'does not understand' why she has become a victim of online abuse, since 'she was only doing her job'.
“I'll never, ever forget what she did for me,” he said, visibly moved.
Abdou says he hopes one day they can meet again in person so he can thank her face to face.
He has also pleaded with her to help him find out if his brother is still alive, and where he is, since they became separated after they reached the shores of Ceuta and the elder of the two needed urgent medical attention.
Luna's brother Saúl has said on social media how 'proud' he is of his sister, but how 'sad' he is that the situation had to arise in the first place and how she became the target of insults, adding that it was a 'shame' there were 'more online militants than people actually making a humanitarian effort' in such circumstances.
Another picture from the migrant crisis which has gone viral is that of Juan Francisco, a Guardia Civil deep-sea diver, who rescued a two-month-old baby who had fallen in the sea as he and his mother attempted to make the crossing.
“I didn't even know if he was alive,” Juan Francisco admitted.
“I thought it was a pile of clothes, but when I looked more closely, I could see a little head, and went to get him.”
The baby, and his mum, are in good health, although at first, the infant was 'freezing cold' and 'not moving', which Juan Francisco and his colleague Braulio said was 'highly distressing' for them.
They had focused on rescuing, first of all, those who would be unable to stay afloat themselves, particularly small children, several of whom they were pictured with, lifting onto lifeboats.
“They came with beach floaters – toy ones – and empty bottles, or whatever they could, to keep their heads above water; some were wearing very badly-fitting cork life-jackets,” said Juan Francisco.
He and Braulio said they had been on the go for two days non-stop, unable to rest, as they saved dozens of children from the sea.
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A RED Cross worker has been reunited with a migrant who collapsed sobbing in her arms during the recent mass rescue operation in Ceuta, the photograph of which went viral on social media.
Luna Reyes was one of the team attending to the sub-Saharan Africans who made it through the border fence from Morocco or who swam to the Spanish-owned coastal city when a diplomatic disagreement between two countries who are old friends led to 8,000 migrants managing to enter European territory.
Only a few hundred made it through without being sent back, including around 200 unaccompanied children and teenagers, who will be placed in young persons' shelters across the mainland.
One of those who was sent back after swimming to Ceuta was Abdou, 27, from Sénégal, who was pictured being comforted by Luna, inconsolable, on the Spanish city's Tarajal beach.
He and his elder brother had left their native west African country five years ago in a desperate bid to seek a life free from poverty where they could work and send money home to keep their family fed.
They had been living with their grandmother and made it to Morocco a year later.
For the past four years, they had been camping out in Morocco and making numerous attempts to get past the border into Europe.
When they found out recently that Morocco was 'opening its borders with Spain', Abdou and his brother spent a whole night walking from Tangiers to Castillejos, at the Ceuta border, then waded into the sea and swam for it.
Both young men reached Ceuta's Tarajal beach, Abdou utterly exhausted and his brother unconscious with a very weak pulse.
Luna, 20, from Móstoles (Madrid), is a Red Cross volunteer and currently based in her mum Inma's native city of Ceuta carrying out the compulsory work experience units for her FP in Social Integration – the equivalent qualification level of a BTEC HND, or two-thirds of a degree – and was one of those called out to the Tarajal beach at the height of the mass migrant entry.
She was giving them water to drink and general support and first aid, and when she got to Abdou, he fell sobbing into her arms.
Afterwards, she wrote on Twitter, with some energy and indignation, that the sight of the arrivals had made her heart sink, adding: “I don't believe in any God, but I'm sure if I'd gone through what these people have been going through, I would.”
She was also photographed with a wiped-out Abdou lying down, resting his head on her lap as she soothed him in his distress.
“So much frustration, so much physical and mental exhaustion and so much anger,” she wrote.
“Humanitarian aid is not about 'getting rid of' people, it's about attending to their needs and, especially, in situations like this...it's quite rare to be thanked for something that should be perfectly normal.”
Although the pictures of Luna and Abdou have, for many, summed up the wretched nature of the migrants' ordeal, Luna, sadly, had to take her Twitter account off line for a while due to a minority of racist and sexist comments, some even of a sexual nature.
Now Abdou has spoken to Luna again via video call from the migrant centre he has been placed in, in Casablanca, he has condemned the online attacks against his helper.
Abdou says he 'does not understand' why she has become a victim of online abuse, since 'she was only doing her job'.
“I'll never, ever forget what she did for me,” he said, visibly moved.
Abdou says he hopes one day they can meet again in person so he can thank her face to face.
He has also pleaded with her to help him find out if his brother is still alive, and where he is, since they became separated after they reached the shores of Ceuta and the elder of the two needed urgent medical attention.
Luna's brother Saúl has said on social media how 'proud' he is of his sister, but how 'sad' he is that the situation had to arise in the first place and how she became the target of insults, adding that it was a 'shame' there were 'more online militants than people actually making a humanitarian effort' in such circumstances.
Another picture from the migrant crisis which has gone viral is that of Juan Francisco, a Guardia Civil deep-sea diver, who rescued a two-month-old baby who had fallen in the sea as he and his mother attempted to make the crossing.
“I didn't even know if he was alive,” Juan Francisco admitted.
“I thought it was a pile of clothes, but when I looked more closely, I could see a little head, and went to get him.”
The baby, and his mum, are in good health, although at first, the infant was 'freezing cold' and 'not moving', which Juan Francisco and his colleague Braulio said was 'highly distressing' for them.
They had focused on rescuing, first of all, those who would be unable to stay afloat themselves, particularly small children, several of whom they were pictured with, lifting onto lifeboats.
“They came with beach floaters – toy ones – and empty bottles, or whatever they could, to keep their heads above water; some were wearing very badly-fitting cork life-jackets,” said Juan Francisco.
He and Braulio said they had been on the go for two days non-stop, unable to rest, as they saved dozens of children from the sea.
Related Topics
You may also be interested in ...
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