Spain
Sierra Leonean Uses Ebola Experience to Help Spain Fight COVID
MADRID – Felix Sesay left his native Sierra Leone in 2016 to escape the Ebola outbreak, only to find..

Sesay was one of more than 600 migrants who set foot on Spanish soil and began a new life doing odd jobs.
“When the coronavirus started here, I thought I could either stay at home or help out. So, I decided to help the Red Cross,” he said.
Filling a gap
Sesay works for the Red Cross in Torrent, a town near Valencia in southeastern Spain.
The agencys Ana Gómez Gómez said Sesay’s unique experience of living through two epidemics meant he was an asset to the team.
“He worked through something like Ebola, which means he knows how to deal with the problems we have now with coronavirus, and most importantly, is not scared at all,” she said.
Despite volunteering with the Red Cross, Sesay will not be guaranteed a work permit when the health crisis is over.
Hundreds of other foreign health workers living in Spain as migrants have been impeded by bureaucratic hurdles placed by immigration services involved with ratifying their degrees.
The Solidarity for Foreign Health Workers action group has demanded the Spanish government hasten the process for work permits.
“About 80% of foreign health professionals who are part of this group do not have papers to work here,” said Yamile Caicedo, who is from Colombia.
She said under Spanish law, foreign nationals work permits can be given priority if there are “motives of public interest or national interest.”
However, Caicedo said, they are being denied the chance to work because they first need to get temporary work permits, which can only be requested by employers.
A spokesman for the Spanish interior ministry confirmed the requirement, which he said was “the law.”
“Employers should request these,” the spokesman said.
Doors closing
Life for many migrants without legal permission to work in Spain has become tougher during the outbreak, as most survive as cleaners, cooks or street beer peddlers.
With their mobility severely restricted under the lockdown that was imposed in March, most look to charities for help.
Since the pandemic, the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Spain has fallen dramatically.
The number of migrants rescued at sea between Jan. 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020, was 5,068, down 21% from 6,429 last year.
“Many thousands who have applied for asylum have also had their applications put on hold because of the virus,” said Paloma Favieres, director of policy at the Spanish Commission for Refugees.
She called attention to a migrant holding center in Melilla, a Spanish territory in north Africa bordering Morocco, where about 1,600 people are being detained in a building designed for 782, presenting a danger of contagion.
The government said the center would be emptied last month but so far, nothing has been done.
Frontex, the European borders agency, calculated that human traffickers have made $172 million in the past three years sending migrants to Spain.
-
Tech7 months ago
Search engine startup asks users to be the customer, not the product
-
Europe4 weeks ago
Covid: Flights shut down as EU discusses UK virus threat
-
Health4 weeks ago
Spain ‘to register’ those who refuse to have Covid-19 vaccine
-
Sports4 years ago
Boxing continues to knock itself out with bewildering, incorrect decisions
-
Sports4 years ago
Phillies’ Aaron Altherr makes mind-boggling barehanded play
-
Europe2 months ago
45 arrested across Europe and Brazil as authorities seize ‘record haul’ of cocaine
-
latest news7 months ago
Creepy technologies invade European post-pandemic workplaces
-
Sports4 years ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors