Climbing aboard a canoe from the African coast and undertaking the risky journey to the Canary Islands on the deadliest route in the world is, for many immigrants, the only way to live. Everything or nothing. Cheick (not his real name) knows this well, a young Senegalese man who suffers from a heart injury from birth and who a few days ago arrived in El Hierro aboard a canoe. His only objective was to survive the journey so that he could be treated for his pathology upon his arrival in Spain.
His fate in Senegal, without the treatment he is already receiving in our country, was clear: death was going to come in a matter of months or perhaps in a few years. She took a risk and achieved it. Like him, there are several immigrants who have arrived to the islands with pathologies that require treatment, some minors, like a nine-year-old boy who arrived a few weeks ago with a tumor on his cheek and was diverted to Tenerife along the way, where he also They are already trying it.
“They know that the cayuco is their only possibility,” says Pallaresa Teresa Cotonat Vives, the pediatrician of El Hierro for the last 23 years, a reference on the island and who, since the migratory crisis began in the Canary Islands at the end of June, has completely dedicated to assisting and helping arriving immigrants. She already did it during the cayucos crisis, between 2006 and 2009.
Cotonat, 68 years old and a native of Sort, continues at the foot of the canyon caring for the children of El Hierro 24 hours a day – she is always operational by mobile phone for any queries – and when a boat arrives she altruistically goes on foot. pier to lend a hand. In addition, she is always operational if it is necessary to go and care for any of the adult immigrants at the San Andrés reception center. “I do it because I like it, no one forces me,” she points out.
Unaccompanied immigrant minors also pass through their hands. Sometimes, when small children arrive without an adult and require hospitalization, she herself stays overnight accompanying them. “Children are the ones who do the best physically, partly because they are fed with breast milk and because they are treated very well,” says Cotonat, who, for now, has no intention of retiring. “As long as I hold on, I will continue to help in any way I can,” she says. Her dedication to her children is complete, and for this reason she was recognized earlier this year with the civil cross of the Order of Health. Also this year she was awarded the Gold Medal of the Canary Islands.
As he explains, the elderly sometimes arrive in a complicated state of health, with sunburns, sores and wounds that require treatment due to the hours of overcrowding in the cayuco. “They have a terrible time because it is difficult to cure that,” she says. After initial attention, they go to the reception center and in 24-48 hours they are referred to other islands and then to the Peninsula. The minors, who are supervised by the Government of the Canary Islands, have a medical history opened, an analysis is carried out and they are given three vaccines: hepatitis B, polio and triple viral. “They don't like needles at all,” she says.
As of yesterday there were 169 minors in El Hierro, but there have now been close to 400 in a population of 10,000 inhabitants (the census is about 11,000). The ESO center in El Hierro has only 300 students. Hence the concern of the president of the island's council, Alpidio Armas, and his demand that the Government of the Canary Islands, which is the one that protects the menas, so that it distributes them on larger islands and with more resources.
Cotonat highlights that all minor children upon arrival provide the same date of birth: January 1. “Some from 2007, others from 2008… but they were all born on the same day. The birthday is going to be massive,” jokes the pediatrician, who points out that all the children who are in El Hierro are waiting for the bone test to be performed. Of the 3,300 unaccompanied minors currently on the islands – 347 are expected to be transferred to other communities in the coming weeks – nearly 1,800 are waiting for this test to confirm their age.
The pediatrician from Sort and one of the most beloved people on El Hierro highlights “how affectionate the minors who arrive on the island are.” “They give you some kisses and some hugs. If I could, I would take them home,” she says. She points out that the work is “very, very hard because it is difficult to help everyone,” although she acknowledges that lending a hand makes her feel good about herself.
Of the minors who have arrived in this rebound, he remembers a four-year-old boy who did nothing but cry. He didn't want to eat, nor did he want to be with anyone or play with anything. Nothing consoled him. “We bought him a bear, clothes, a car… but in the end what we did was call the person he had arrived with and who was his uncle. The National Police brought him and all his evils were removed,” he says.
The arrival of boats yesterday saw another very intense day on the islands. Last night eleven boats with more than 800 people had arrived in the Canary Islands (around half to El Hierro). The minors numbered more than fifty and at least one baby. “It's non-stop, when you go a few hours without being called, it misses you. You live all the time waiting for one to arrive,” says Cotonat.
