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Senegal's children mourn in silence when migrant parents disappear
Around 50 orphans are receiving therapy and in-home support as families struggle with grief, debt and school setbacks after sea crossings go wrong.
In 2024, the Senegalese chapter of the Diocesan Delegation of Migration launched a pioneering psychosocial support program in Mbour for children of migrants lost at sea, assisting around 50 orphans.
At least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared in 2024 attempting to reach Spain via the Atlantic route, with families often relying on crowded pirogues carrying more than 100 people.
Eleven-Year-Old Sokhna, whose father Assane has been missing since 2022, suffers from silent anger as families lack clear information to grieve properly.
DDM director Jordi Balsells noted children suffer "more silently, with a great deal of anger," prompting the NGO to provide therapy and sewing workshops creating safe spaces.
Civil society advocate Diop Thioune, specializing in migration for 20 years, regrets that economic and psychosocial support for these families is "not taken into account in public policies.