Boekverslag : $1,000 - In Search Of A Better Life
Ingezonden Door: Sari De Baere
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 679 woorden.
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 679 woorden.
Nr 2 Sari de Baere
6Le
Engels: schrijfoefening
Summarize the text, in search of a better life, in maximum 15-20 lines.
Comment on the subject. How do you feel about this? What is your opinion?
The article ‘ In search of a better life’ is about Africans who want to flee to Europe. It starts with the testimony of a young Nigerian, Ken Umoli, who tells about the loss of a companion during his journey to Tangier. And there are lots of others like Ken. From everywhere in Africa people try to flee to Europe. Attracted by the prosperity poor and needy people would do anything to get there. The routes they follow are various. Some fly, others catch buses or hitch lifts but most of them just walk. The risks involved are enormous. Many of them get killed by bandits, robbers or smugglers. Others starve or get lost in the desert. Not everybody comes from the same place but they al have the same destination. Tangier on the North African coast is only nine miles from Spain. There they take the boot across the Straits of Gibraltar. Once arrived on land they have access to the rest of Europe. This last part of the trip is the most dangerous and the most expensive one. Smugglers ask big amounts of money ($1,000) to transfer people in the worst circumstances. And usually the boots also carry drugs. Every year hundreds of people drown. Or they got hit by tankers and ferries or the engines of the boots run out of fuel. But some people do survive the crossing. Ossas Osula made the trip last August. His life hung in balance when his boot started sinking. Happily a Spanish boot saved his life. Despite the resent measures to firm the immigration laws and to extradite the refugees, Ossas still lives in Spain, just like many other Africans. By their arrival a part of them get into criminality or prostitution but most of them find a room to live. For those people their dreams really come true. A human existence, that was the only thing they wanted.
Now, how do I feel about this? First of all, I think this is a very difficult subject. When I started thinking about it, I first thought it had nothing to do with me. But when I got to the essence of the problem, I realised it stood closer than I thought.
If we are realistic, we understand the emigration has to stop. Europe is such a small continent that it is impossible that everybody comes to live here. But wouldn't everybody do the same thing as they do? Isn’t it logical that the poor people come to the rich Western world to have a better life? Here in Waregem everything seems still quite normal but in cities like Antwerp, Schaarbeek and Brussels you almost get the feeling you’re in the middle of Africa. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not racist at all. But I still believe that every nation needs his own country to live in peace. Of course a multicultural world, it would be fantastic. But in my eyes, it seems quite idealistic. Religion for instance has always been a problem and that will never change.
If we want to solve the problem, we need to change the whole world. That’s of course easier said than done. When I think about what I can do, I feel myself so powerless against al this injustice that I really don’t where to start. People often say it’s good to start in your own living world but I believe that isn’t enough. This cliché is just something to appease their conscience. The split between poor and rich is so big that you really have to be courageous to deal with the problem itself. That’s the reason why actions like world-shake who want to close the split and associations like the anti-globalism deserve al my respect and support. But as long the big chiefs of America and Europe don’t want to cooperate, their actions are just a drop in the ocean.
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