In Senegal, where the tragedies of clandestine migration make headlines every week, journalist Ayoba Faye has initiated the hashtag “#Missing” to assist families of migrants who set sail in obtaining information about their missing children and prevent them from fading into oblivion.
“Ousseynou Ndiaye: missing for 20 days. Unknown point of departure,” reads a post on the Senegalese journalist Ayoba Faye’s account. Over the past week, the editor-in-chief of the online media PressAfrik has compiled a list of several names of Senegalese individuals who have gone missing after attempting the sea journey to Spain.
Each name listed by the journalist is accompanied by a photograph. With his 34,000 followers, Ayoba Faye hopes to help locate individuals who may have tragically lost their lives during this extremely perilous crossing. This effort also aims to lift them from anonymity and obscurity, especially as various figures within Senegal’s civil society advocate for the establishment of a national day of mourning for migrants.