“My friend Muhtar tells me that in his country, The Gambia,
there is a place where birds can rest during their migration,
just at the border with Senegal.
This place is called Bantabá.
Bantabá is also a square, an open space
which, in each village and in each city
serves as a meeting point
for its inhabitants.
After lunch, men and women,
boys, girls, older people,
Muslims, Christians,
meet to talk about their problems,
about their joys, about their dreams……
in different languages.”
Project “Bantabá” is a solidarity project of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, promoted by the two provinces of Spain to mark the bicentenary of the Congregation.
The project was initially centred on migrant children and teen-agers in Las Norias de Daza, a rural community in the municipality of El Ejido, Almería. At present this project is being carried out in two centres: Las Norias de Daza and Santa María de Aguila, about 5 km apart.
For almost 40 years this district has specialised in the intense cultivation of vegetables under plastic; the increase in the immigrant population has had a significant effect, and so has their unstable position in society and with regard to employment.
The object of the project is the integration of these migrants, most of whom come from the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of Eastern Europe outside the EU. It is to ensure that the people who come to this district in search of work, can have dignified living conditions in a society that is very hostile to them.
As there is a lack of training facilities, free time and advice for newcomers, the project consists of three programmes:
- Bantabá Centre
- Classes in language and culture, both Spanish and Andalusian
- “Saturday, with a difference”.
In this way we try to respond, as far as possible, to the migrants' needs and to adapt the form of the programmes to the various groups and the sorts of things they are asking for.
Bantabá Centre
This is a small space in which migrants can feel welcome, and where they can be given advice and orientation.
We hope our centre will be not only an office for co-ordinating the different programmes of the project, but also a place where people can meet and make friends, a point of reference for any migrant who approaches it. A space in which they can say what they need with regard to family, health, school and housing, so that we can get a picture of their situation as a whole and work with them.
Of these aspects, the ones that require the greatest commitment and monitoring are the schooling of children within the compulsory age-range, and the monitoring of health care: infant vaccination, pregnancy…
During 2003-2004 an average of 90 migrants a month have been welcomed to the centre. School places have been found for 84 children. There have been 12 health visits a month.
Classes in language and culture, both Spanish and Andalusian
Most of the migrants in this district speak a language other than the one spoken here. Learning the language of the host society is essential, so that they can communicate, find their way around and become integrated
progressively.
Spanish courses have been organised since 1998. The groups are organised according to what they already know and to the language of their country of origin. The timetable fits in with the working day. Teen-agers and adults, of both sexes and of different cultures, attend these classes.
The classes are given mostly by volunteers, both religious and lay. During the school year 2003-2004 5 groups were organised, with a total enrolment of more than 100 pupils and with regular attendance at classes.
Since the year 2000, there have been language classes for women on two mornings a week, within the school timetable.
Owing to their family duties, distance from the town centre and religious and cultural conditions (most are Muslims), many migrant mothers and girls cannot attend evening classes.
People offer to drive those who live in isolated places.
These classes not only give them an opportunity to learn the language and customs of the host society, how to make use of social and health services, etc., but also to make friends. This is otherwise almost impossible, since their homes are so widely dispersed.
The average number of women attending class during the last course was 26, organised into two groups, according to their proficiency. Most of them had never been able to attend school in their countries of origin.
“Saturday, with a difference”
This is a space for fun-learning in which the children are given a chance to make friends, instead of being isolated. Games are used to show how to deal with others of a different race, culture or religion.
Children between 6 and 14 take part in this programme during their free time; preference is given to immigrants and those socially at risk. Various monitors of both sexes, most of whom are also migrants, help in the activities and workshops held on Saturday mornings.
There is a school bus service for children who live a long way out. Besides games and workshops in manual skills, cultural trips and excursions are organised, and they join in the local festivities.
For five consecutive summers, these Saturday activities have been extended for two weeks in summer in the form of “city camps”, with games, trips to the beach, etc. Young people from different parts of Spain have collaborated in this, on a completely voluntary basis.
In the summer of 2004, owing to the lack of volunteers to work with the religious in the camps, the activities had to be restricted to tutoring and games, organised by a community of Vedruna Carmelites who have been working with the Bantabá project for four years, during July and August.
The Bantabá project receives funding from voluntary gifts of friends, religious communities and parishes, and sometimes subventions from private entities.
We feel that the project, after functioning for over five years, is still a necessary and interesting work; it is being adapted to the concrete needs of the many people who keep coming to this district of Almería to earn their living.
As things are, the work is rewarding, although the local people are jealous of the migrants and don't always understand our commitment.
We are convinced of our good fortune in being so close to those who are the “last” in our Spanish society at present, and in being able to bring to life in a small way those words of the Gospel: “I was a stranger and you took Me in”. (Matt.25).
