Ilja Pfeijffer - La Superba

“Did you tell them you were?”

“No, but they know I’m in Europe and everyone in Europe gets rich and successful without trying. Every African knows that.”

“But they know better by now?”

“Well, no, they don’t. Not really. Do you know what they told me about Europe? Back home in Senegal, before I went away? They said that Europe is a fortress. That its borders are so well guarded it’s almost impossible to get in. But that’s understandable because everyone inside can get free money. You can go to a counter and they arrange a wage for you that you can come and collect each month without having to do anything for it. Everyone in Europe wears expensive designer suits and gold watches, which they check the whole time because everything in Europe happens punctually. They sell sunglasses there that cost more than a month’s salary in Dakar, but everyone wears them, even though no one really needs them because there’s less sun than in Africa. Everyone can easily afford them. And if you want to, you can work as well. And then you become a millionaire. And the jobs are just there for the taking, and in Europe there aren’t any really exhausting physical jobs, like farming or working in a factory. Robots do that kind of work. All the people work in banks where they look after the money the robots earn for them. All you have to do is sit at an office desk in a suit and do nothing but stare at a computer screen that says how much money is flowing in. The banks also give free debit cards to anyone who wants them and you can use them to get money from a wall if you need it. At home, too, all the work is done by computers and machines. Nobody has to do the laundry, or clean, or cook. There are appliances for that. That’s why the people have plenty of time to go and watch football matches on televisions as big as cinema screens. And everyone drives lovely big cars, like Mercedes or Jaguars, and most people buy a new one as soon as the ashtray is full. The buildings are made of silver and glass. They’ve invented a special kind of glass that’s made of silver and reflects light like a mirror. They cover palaces as high as mountains with it. And there is so much gold that some people put it in their teeth, not even for decoration, because nobody sees it, but simply because they can. And there’s always as much food as you can eat because they’ve developed scientific techniques that can make tomatoes as big as apples and apples as big as melons, and the cows are even fatter than hippos. Europeans don’t only eat meat on public holidays, but every day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They have so much water they shower every day. And they shower with perfume as well. Beer doesn’t come in bottles but out of a tap like water. Anyone who gets ill can go to a laboratory for free, where they cure them. They can do everything there. They can even give you new body parts if you need them. And you can have as much sex as you want because all European men have tiny dicks and their women long for a real one. And you don’t even have to marry them because they’re emancipated, which means it’s only about the sex.”

“You’re exaggerating, Djiby.”

“I know by now that the reality is a bit different.” He laughed. “But these are the kinds of stories going around in Africa. And if you hear them often enough, while day in day out you have just enough francs in your pocket to buy some bread, sooner or later you get the idea of maybe making the trip. And if you don’t come up with that plan yourself, there are family members or friends who suggest it and as a small favor in return for their suggestion, they ask only that you don’t forget them once you’ve settled in the Promised Land. In Africa, it’s considered a scandal for a young man to be poor and there are a lot of friends and family members who’ll remind you of that.”

“I’d love to hear the story of your travels.”

“I knew it. Are you going to write it down in your book?”

“Does it bother you?”

“On the contrary. I’ve always wanted to be a character in a novel. And if I can’t be rich and successful, at least I might become famous in that way. It’s something at least. Will you make sure you spell my name correctly? Djiby P. Souley. The P. in particular is very important.”

“I understood that.”

“But seriously, I think it’s important that my story be told to the people in the north. It’s the story of my people. I’ll tell it to you.” A broad grin appeared on his face. “On the condition you pay for my beer. And I’ll need a lot of beer because it’s a long, thirst-inducing story since it mainly takes place in the desert and onboard ships under a scorching sun.”

5.

“I was the chosen one. My two younger brothers might be physically stronger, although everyone thought that only because they themselves kept saying it the whole time. But I’m cleverer, and even they couldn’t deny that. I’m good at languages. I probably inherited that from my mother. My Italian’s already quite good, isn’t it?” He laughed. “Don’t say yes or no. But languages are important for a trip like that. Maybe even the most important thing. Because you have to negotiate stuff the whole time. But I didn’t know that at the time. Muscles are important for a black man once you’re in Europe so you can earn a few euros carrying heavy things, but you need a set of totally different skills to get into Europe. You need to know which way the wind blows on your third day. To do this, you have to speak the tongues that cool the desert and part the waves.

“The old route had been made impassable. They used to all come to us. From Kenya or Nigeria they came all the way to Senegal to cross the sea to the Canary Islands. That had always been a dangerous route, but since 2006 it’s actually been closed. Too many checks, too much navy about, no one does it anymore. The experts said that the Morocco route to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla was also no longer navigable. When I left, everyone agreed that the most promising route was via Libya. I think that’s still the case.

“Family and friends had rustled together the money. I gave my mother a kiss and shook my father’s hand and left. ‘I’m proud of you,’ my mother said. ‘Make me proud,’ my father said. My brothers didn’t say a thing.

“The first part of the journey was the easiest. I had to go to the city of Agadez in the north of Niger. I could take a bus with the money from my family and friends, and then another one and another one, and all of that together took more than a week, but then I arrived, and then it started for real.”

He took a sip of his beer. “I’m keeping it short because there’s still a lot to come.”

“Tell me everything, Djiby, please.”

“The bit I’d just cut out for simplicity was the way we crossed the Mali border and after that the Mali-Niger border. It’s not really a matter of getting a simple stamp. Even if you had enough money to bribe the officials, it wasn’t going to be easy. And I didn’t have the money so that wasn’t an option anyway.

“So what happened was that we were dropped a few kilometers from the border. We had to wait there until it got dark. At a certain point, trucks were supposed to come past, they said. They’d stop at the place we were waiting. You had to give the driver a small fee. After that you had to hold on to the shaft at the back and crawl under the truck until you could put your legs over the axles. It would be hard, they said, but we only had to stay like that for a couple of hours. Until we were safely over the border.

“And that’s how I crossed the Mali border, lying on the axles underneath a truck. I got cramps in my hands after just ten minutes. At that point, there was still a whole night to go. And it wasn’t exactly the A7 from Milan to the Riviera. We drove along a dirt road full of bumps and potholes. Everything jolted and shook. A few times, the truck jerked so much I almost lost my grip. It was incredibly dangerous, really. It’s not difficult to imagine what would happen if you let go. And then taking the Mali-Niger border in the same way. The truck hit a rock and almost tipped over. I lost my grip but by some miracle, managed to grab onto something to get back in place. But the boy lying next to me was less lucky. He was catapulted forwards, fell on the ground, and one of the wheels drove over his head. Fortunately for him, it all happened really quickly. And fortunately for me, it was dark so I couldn’t see what was left of his head.”