+ infoBarely 20 years old, Mariama Konte was neither widow nor wife. For nearly four years, she told her two young children that their father is traveling for work. Only in the last few weeks has she begun to accept the possibility that Abdrahamane drowned at sea, like so many migrants from this dusty, impoverished corner of eastern Senegal. It was in 2015 when tragedy struck for seven Dougue families whose sons were lured by the success of another group just a few years prior. None of the seven have returned. Families throughout the region learned about a shipwreck that was worse than anyone had ever imagined. Twenty-eight survivors, out of as many as 1,100 who died on board the overloaded fishing boat. This series chronicles these families.
Cheikh Fofana prays under a tree after working in a peanut field, as the sun sets in Goudiry, Senegal. Fofana grieves his son's absence, even while refusing to officially acknowledge he is dead.
Youths who work as motorcycle taxi drivers wait for costumers in Goudiry, Senegal. Many of the victims of the 2015 shipwreck are believed to have come from the Tambacounda region of Senegal, where economic prospects are few and many toil in agriculture despite growing desertification and a lack of modern farming equipment. Those who have made it to Europe have built their parents homes and that success has inspired others to follow.
This Nov. 26, 2018 photo shows a print of Tidiane Fofana, center, sitting with friends in Goudiry, Senegal. Tidiane was one of 18 children; though the only one who noticed when his aging father or widowed aunt needed help. It was Tidiane who wanted to reach Europe to earn enough so that his father would never again have to ride his bicycle to the family's fields to work.
