When Amir Alfuutiyu left Mauritania, he took a book with him – "The Ambiguous Adventure", a novel by Cheikh Hamidou Kane.
In the book, a West African man like him emigrates to Paris. Far from home, he begins to adapt to the new culture and distance himself from his roots.
Just like the protagonist, Amir wanted to go to France. His father and siblings live there. But he was denied a visa.
The package included a trip from the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott1 to Istanbul2, Bogotá3, San Salvador4, and finally Managua5.
TOTAL: $3,500
In Managua, Amir met with the crew of Pedro, who guide most of the West Africans to Honduras. There, a woman named Sara takes over.
After crossing into Mexico, he was arrested five times, he says. He spent three nights in a cell and had to buy his freedom again and again – from the cartels, the police, the military.
Migration is a business. And the only one who loses money is Amir. It took him 1.5 months and $5,000 to reach the U.S. border. That's almost 12 times the average monthly income in Mauritania.
The book he had with him was stolen somewhere in Mexico, along with all his other possessions.
But shortly after he arrived, the city implemented a policy that required single migrants to reapply for a shelter spot every 30 days.
In nine months, he would have to reapply more than ten times to one of the more than 200 shelters in New York City.