The Third Patera

The third Patera that arrived came on Thursday 6^th Aug in the day. We arrived at the port in plenty of time and were able to help prepare the room this consisted of:

• Putting black plastic mattresses out in a line, where the immigrants would sit and wait,
• Preparing coffee, water, Magdalena cakes
• Getting the prepared clothes ready for everyone, in different sizes

We were then able to watch the patera being escorted into port. The patera itself was a tiny black dinghy about the size of four mattresses put together, you could hardly see it, and compared to the size of the red cross boat that was towing it, the vision was absurd, I mean how could thirty six people sail across the straight of water between Africa and Spain, under the baking hot sun on a small dinghy, it was incomprehensible.

So we could see the big orange Red Cross rescue boat pulling the Patera, and the guardia in a small speed boat circling both boats.

We waited on the harbour for the boats to arrive and then waited for the immigrants to start leaving the boat. The first to leave was two women and their children, the floor of the boat was so hot, it seemed to burn their shoeless feet.

The women and children were taken to a separate room and Sote (being able to speak French) went with them.

The immigrants left the boat in single file, and proceeded to the main room that had been prepared, they sat down in a row, and we handed clothes out to everyone.

There was about 15 policemen present and about 15 red cross staff also

Their details were then taken (name, age, date of birth, country of origen, sex) this proved to be complex, as different immigrants spoke different languages, so there was a mixture of French, Arrabic, Spanish and English.

Their temperature was taken, and if it was normal (every ones was) they had a green band put on their wrists, and then they could receive food and drink.

The police then took over, and we left.

Observations:

• The process was so well planned, organised and managed and the Red Cross really have so much experience in dealing with the arrival of Pateras.
• From start to finish everything was calm and co-operative.
• The immigrants seemed in pretty good health considering their journey.
• It was so good to be part of a team who had so much experience, and trusted us to be part of the work.
• It was such a brilliant and valuable experience to see what happens first hand when a patera comes into Spanish water.