Abdel

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Abdel is a novel of the Spanish writer Enrique Páez from the year 1994 . It is a children's book that deals with the issue of immigrants from Africa.

content

The story is told from the perspective of Abdels, a 16 year old boy. The starting point is his hopeless situation in a cemetery, alone, hungry and without his father. In a kind of flashback, he reports how he got into this situation.

Abdel lived with his father Yasir with a nomad tribe in Morocco . His mother was killed by Moroccan soldiers. Ben Abjalah, a scholar of the tribe, teaches Abdel to speak Spanish and to read.

Since Yasir's life is threatened and because he wants to give Abdel a better future, the two set off to travel to Spain. The journey, especially the route across the Strait of Gibraltar , is dangerous: the ship is overcrowded, the air is scarce, and when the ship goes down, many of the illegal immigrants drown. Yasir and Abdel barely survive.

When they arrive in Spain, the paradise they have hoped for does not await them, but a life that offers them neither money nor a home nor food. But then they get to know Jorge Meléndez, who promises them work and money. They are supposed to transport packages for him. Abdel begins to play a bigger role than his father - his skills make him more useful to Meléndez than Yasir. Abdel finds out that the group around Meléndez are drug smugglers and that the package contains cocaine . But he has no opportunity to tell his father and is not sure about his suspicions.

After all, Yasir and Abdel are supposed to collect a package together, supposedly because it is very big and heavy. When they find a small package, they realize that they have fallen into a trap: the police appear and take Yasir with them, Abdel is able to escape. He seeks protection in a cemetery.

After a few days, starving, he notices how a man wants to attack a sibling couple who are visiting the cemetery: Alicia and Miguel. He saves them with his slingshot. In gratitude, they would like to provide him with food. A friendship develops.

Together the three hatch a plan: They want to bring Meléndez down. Therefore, in front of the cocaine hiding place, they stretched a string to slow down the gang's path. Have Alicia and Miguel call the police. The plan fails, however, as Meléndez's men discover Abdel and throw him into a trunk. However, Abdel, who has a packet of cocaine, is able to sprinkle a trail out of the white powder and the called police find him.

Yasir is in prison as a drug smuggler. Abdel comes to a children's home where he is taught and becomes friends with Charo Lafuente, one of the teachers. She is considering adopting Abdel because, unlike his peers, he is neither violent nor addicted to drugs. Yasir doesn't want to tell the truth or they'd have to return to Morocco , where he could be killed. In addition, Abdels future is important to him, in Spain he can enjoy a solid education.

Historical / political background

The book is to be understood as a criticism of the inhumane conditions for illegal immigrants, but also unravels the war crimes against the nomadic Tuareg people . Since the 19th century , the Spanish Sahara , later Spanish West Africa , the Tuareg territory was a Spanish colony . In 1976 Morocco occupied the area it still claims to be known as Western Sahara . Many residents of Spanish West Africa had to flee to Algeria and live in refugee camps . The Frente Polisario , a resistance group founded in 1973 against Spanish rule that worked for the liberation of the area, now posed a threat to the Moroccan occupiers. Therefore, the soldiers built walls around economically important areas such as El Aaiún , Smara and Bou Craa - there there were important phosphate , gas and petroleum stocks . During the construction of such a wall, the fictional murder of Abdels mother occurred. After the construction of these walls, the Kingdom of Morocco asked the nomad tribes to settle in a permanent place.

expenditure

  • Enrique Páez: Abdel . 36th edition. Editorial SM, Madrid 2011, ISBN 84-348-4271-8 .
  • Enrique Páez: Abdel (Edition Hispano America; 5). Lagrev-Verlag, Munich 2006.

Web links

Wiktionary: Abdel  - Explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations