My only exit is the scrap

The iron, to 0.18 cents the kilo;stainless steel, at 0.70;Aluminum profiles, at 0.85;the brass, to 2.80 euros, and the copper, to five.These are the prices they offer in a warehouse in the Clot neighborhood in Barcelona that acquires metals from people who are dedicated to collecting scrap in the street, such as Ussumane Bodjam.Ussumane's story is traced to that of the thousands of sub -Saharan migrants, and other African countries, which have arrived in Catalonia in recent years.No papers, one of the options they explore to make a living and send some money to their families is to travel the city in search of this type of materials.At its last departure, Ussumane won 40 euros thanks to what he found inside containers and next to buildings in works.

Ussamane, about to turn 28, can now be considered a lucky man.For a few months he sleeps on an apartment that manages the Oenegé Missatgers of the Pau, has begun to form and see the light at the end of the tunnel.But not so much does it spend the night and in abandoned premises.

From Guinea Bissau to Barcelona

Ussumane remembers the inhuman trip he undertook a decade ago;In Libya he ended up trapped and extorted by the mafias

While crossing the Clot with his cart, he remembers the inhuman trip he undertook a decade ago from Guinea Bissau.A journey through Senegal, Mali, Niger and Libyan hell, where he ended up trapped and extorted by the mafias.Then, he faced a dangerous journey to reach Italy.He lived several years in Milan until chance took him to Barcelona.The support of Missatgers of the PAU allows you to combine classes with two or three afternoons a week invested in metal collection.Each month of the month sends money home, to Guinea Bissau, for his father and his three younger brothers, still in school age.His mother died being teenager.

Neither the Barcelona City Council, nor the Department of Drets Socials, nor the General Directorate of Migracons de la Generalitat consider any figure about the people who could depend on the scrap metal.The majority profile responds to that of an African and no documentation, who lives in occupied spaces or in floors in overcrowding conditions.Although, as José points out, the person in charge of the small clot business that buys and selling this waste, "South American, Maghreb, Romanian and even Spaniards who bring four nonsense to get a euro and buy a bread bar" also come and buy a bread bar ".

Babou Bassono, from the Cepaim Foundation, estimates that there are thousands of migrants that depend on the search for waste

"Because of the police and Covid pressure there has been a transfer of people who used to be traded and now travel the streets with the cart, and not only in Barcelona," says Babou Basson, social worker of the foundationCEPAIM.Basson visits periodically and provides support for migrants who subsist in settlements."Of the 150 people I usually see, most collect scrap, I think that in the metropolitan area it must be thousands who make a living like that," says Bassono.Years ago, the Generalitat calculated at a minimum of 100.000 The number of men and women from other countries and without papers.The Foreigner Law provides three years of stay in Spain, in addition to the offer of a full -time employment contract of twelve months, to process the temporary residence permit by means of social roots.

A high percentage of people already regularized but at risk of exclusion, at some point, they have resorted to the scrap and the 'Top Manta'

The Social Economy Commissioner, Álvaro Porro, details that the Barcelona City Council has promoted agreements with four oenegés to track the socio -labor insertion of 70 citizens without papers.One of them is the Formació I Treball (FIT) Foundation, which has hired 20, eight of which the livelihoods were earned before looking for residues.Lluís Blanco, coordinator of the FIT insertion team in Sant Adrià, indicates that “a high percentage of people already regularized but at risk of exclusion, at some point, they have resorted to the scrap and the top blanket”.The field is another alternative looking for the sub -Saharanos.

It should be noted that the SOC has a subsidy line to promote the so -called Acol hiring for migrants without papers that meet the requirements to initiate social roots.In the last exercise, this route benefited 194 citizens.

The TS facilitates regularization through labor roots

Immigration challenges