[ Cronotopo Photo Collective ]

PHOTOGRAPHERS: SUSANA VERA: Stories: Mali, birthplace of immigrants

One in two sub-Saharan citizens who try to reach Europe through Spain`s African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are Malian. Almost a quarter of Mali`s population lives abroad, mainly in France, and the money they send back to their families and communities accounts for 25 % of the country`s GDP. Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export. Most of Mali`s youth look to Europe as the "promised land" and are willing to risk their lives to provide their families with a better future.

A woman prepares dinner as young men gather around a TV set to watch a soccer match in the poor suburbs of Mali`s capital, Bamako. Most of them have come from rural villages to get low-paid jobs in the city and save enough money to migrate to Europe.
   
Men jump on top of a bus as women try to sell food at a rest stop in the region of Kayes, western Mali. Half of the Malians who migrate to Europe come from this region. According to the World Bank, 64% of the Malian population live below the poverty line.
   
Children study after school on the street in Kayes, western Mali. Many children, especially girls, work the cotton fields or as street vendors instead of attending schools. Mali`s adult literacy rate is 19%.
     
  
Children play soccer as the sun sets over concrete houses built by the families of Malians who have migrated to Europe in Kayes. One third of the infrastructure in Kayes has been paid for with the money sent by those Malians who live abroad.
  
A man heads to work in Bamako. 30% of Mali`s qualified workforce has moved to countries within the European Union. In a country where 80% of the population lives from farming and fishing that figure means a huge brain drain.
   
People fill the banks of the polluted Niger river on its way through the overpopulated Bamako, Mali`s capital. In its waters they wash themselves, their clothes, cars and motorcycles.
     
  
A man makes adode bricks to build homes in the village of Same Gare. Same`s youth has emigrated to Europe and its elders and children live on the money sent by their migrated relatives.
   
Men work the millet as women sing during harvest time in the region of Kayes. More than 80% of Mali`s population works in agriculture. The country is extremely vulnerable to climatic vagaries. The young men who migrate to Europe risk their lives so as to escape their fate of farming but end up doing those very same jobs when they reach their final European destinations.
  
A man shaves prior to going out in Commune III, a poor suburb in Bamako. He sleeps with several other men in the same quarter so as to save money and head to Europe. Like many, he has been chosen by his family and the village elders to make the dangerous trip.
     
  
A man bids farewell as he leaves on a bus in the region of Kayes. It is estimated that the Malian diaspora amounts to 3 million people, almost 25% of their total population.