A growing number of migrants, traumatized en route to Europe, are settling in Morocco and elsewhere

When Tchapi Tihaha, from Cameroon, looks out at the sea, he said, he just sees death — he’s dodged it one too many times already.

From Agadir, a city along Morocco’s Atlantic coast, he recalled how, on a smuggler’s bus, in Niger, in 2008, on his journey north, the driver got nervous after they had run out of food and water and left him and the other passengers stranded in the desert. 

The roughly 100 migrants headed off into the dunes in small groups in different directions. They were lost, but Tihaha said he had learned something from the bus driver. 

“What saved us was something the driver did. On our trip, he would stop from time to time and pick up a handful of sand,” he said. “Then, he’d let it pour slowly from his fist to see which way the wind was blowing. He’d orient himself, as if the wind were a compass, so we did, too.”

Tihaha eventually crossed Algeria and entered Morocco. At first, he thought he’d rest for a few weeks and then catch a smuggler’s boat to Spain. But, he was exhausted and traumatized, so he changed his mind and decided to stay put.

Tihaha’s case is different from the vast majority. For most migrants, the months, even years, of enduring horrible events during their journeys make them even more determined to reach Europe. But, over the past decade, a growing number of migrants like Tihaha, especially from sub-Saharan Africa, have settled in Morocco rather than continuing north or going home.

Making a living in Morocco is feasible for them, in part, because there’s work to be found here — and the country has a labor shortage. As a result, migrants who enter the country illegally don’t have to hide out of fear of being deported. 

Take this year’s annual Moroccan festival, or Biyelmawn, in Agadir in June. Migrants — many without papers — couldn’t have been more visible. Musicians and dancers from various western African countries showed off their cultures in this carnival-like parade.

Morocco is trying to bring order to immigration, said local migrant rights leader Kamga Gauthier, via its national Immigration and Asylum strategy. In all the regions of the country, he said, King Mohammed VI has created awareness campaigns and integration programs to help migrants fit in. The king has also encouraged migrants to form their own associations, to help new arrivals adapt. 

That’s exactly what Gauthier did. He’s from Cameroon and started Migrant Solidarity of Africa, or AMSA, to help migrants with housing and health care. It also organizes soccer tournaments for both men and women migrants. 

Gauthier said that many migrants who reach Agadir see this happening and think, “This is so much better than every other country I’ve traveled across.”

“There are those among us who die in the desert, and we migrants must bury them there, in the dunes,” he said. “Women get assaulted by the traffickers. There are no human rights on the migration routes.”

Morocco’s openness led Cameroon artist and rapper Kartel to stay in Agadir. He only gave his first name because he’s wary of strangers. He said he tried for Europe at the border fences and by sea, but never made it.

Kartel, who left home four years ago, wrote a rap song about migration. It goes: “Young man, you’re gonna succeed/Look deep inside for the strength to carry on/A combat soldier doesn’t sit on his laurels.”  

Kartel said an Italian music producer recently came to Agadir to record him. He’s waiting to hear the finished tracks but said he’s hardly getting rich here. He works on a farm, but he still doesn’t have working papers.

“Honestly, those of us who work on the farms here, we are really exploited. The salary is pathetic,” he said. “We have families we send money to back home. It isn’t easy.”

In Morocco, there is still a huge informal sector, and it targets not only migrants but also Moroccans.

Laura Palatini heads the United Nations International Organization on Migration in Morocco. The IOM works to make migration humane and orderly.

“Of course, there are difficulties and there are problems for a certain number of migrants. But you will never reach the same level of discrimination that you have in other countries in the same region.”

Morocco, Palatini said, is serious about making migrants feel welcome. It’s got programs to get migrant children into schools; it’s offering housing subsidies; and it’s trying to make getting working papers easier. 

And for people like Gauthier, these programs have meant a lot. 

“Before, I would have cut off my arms to reach Europe. But now, I see things differently,” Gauthier said. “I work here doing something that really touches my heart.”

If he gets to Europe one day, he said, it’ll be as a tourist. 

This report was produced in partnership with the Global Reporting Program at the University of British Columbia.