MIGRATION IS NOT A CRIME - Agadez, a gateway to the desert

 So, I’m in Agadez now, the capital of Aïr, one of the traditional Tuareg–Berber federations. This is, I'm here at some cattle market, on the suburbs of the city,  and there are also some mounds of salt in the middle of this cattle, mainly goats, but also, millet, beans, maize, cheese, dried vegetables and earthenware, white earthenware exposed directly over pieces of fabric stretched out over the sandy floor here and there. And so, as I see it, Tuareg men and women are wandering around through the market, advancing in between the herds of goats and the piles of earthenware, man and women wearing baggy tunics and their indigo-dyed scarves, this is, men with their hands full of gross rings, embroidered dagger holsters around their waists, and woman with their long pendants falling from their nose and ears, plus their tinkling bracelets. And so, then, here I am now, at a tea stall, catching the smokes. And I may say, around this tea stall there are a lot of sub-saharan guys, mainly from countries like Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad. This is, I get to know Abeeku, Kokou, Amadin, Musa, Amadou, Oumarou and Hassan. And now, one by one, Abeeku is from Ghana and he wants to go to France, this is, he already have some cousins there, a place to stay, and so, he wants to work there, and then, he will send some money back to support their children and wives, he says, this is, he tells me, counting with the hands, he has around twelve children from his four wives back in Ghana, and so, as it goes, he even tells me all their names, “Akosua is my favorite, a name that means that she was born on a sunday, and Adwoa, a name that means that she was born on Monday, and Akua, a name that means that she was born on a Wednesday, and Afia, a name that means that she was born on a friday…". And then, as it goes, I get in a conversation with Musa, from Nigeria, actually from the Hausa–Fulani tribe from north Nigeria. Musa wants to go to England, he says he doesn't like French people, and I don't ask him why. And then, there is Hassan, from Chad, Hassan who belongs to the Sara people, he says, a Central Sudanic ethnic group native to southern Chad, the northwestern areas of the Central African Republic, and the southern border of North Sudan. “Sara people are mostly animists, they venerate nature, and because of that we are being persecuted by the islamists. And then, after some exchange of amulets, there we go, already jumping onto the back carriers of some pickup vans, and so, in the meanwhile, I get to know that we are actually leaving for the Ténéré desert, a desert that lays in the northern part of the country, and so, after some hours driving in between the mounds of sand, some of my camarades are already singing songs of redemption, and then, as the time passes by, a mixed up conversation about international football comes up. This is, names of African football players playing in Europe are being pronounced with different tonalities and accents, and, like in some sort of game, others are actually matching the names of these players with the names of the European clubs these footballers are playing or have been playing, and so, the thing goes more and less like this: Salah: Roma/Liverpool. Sadio Mané: Bayern Munich. Yaya Touré: Manchester City/Olympiacos. Édouard Mendy: Chelsea. Felix Afena-Gyan: Roma. Romelu Lukaku: Chelsea/Inter Milan. Aurélien Tchouaméni: Real Madrid. Daniel Ola: Lazio/Chievo Verona. Aaron Wan-Bissaka: Manchester United. Cher Ndour: Benfica/ Paris-Saint-Germain. Aaron Wan-Bissaka: Manchester United. Alfred Duncan: Fiorentina. Paul Labile Pogba: Juventus. Pape Abou Cissé: Olympiacos. Simon Ngapandouetnbu: Olympik die Marseiiiiillhet etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc!