Different salaries and obstacles to residency applications

Safitu has always worked in the same job. She has been braiding hair for 18 years in summer, in Benalmádena. In addition to her mother tongue, she speaks four languages perfectly: Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. Her dream has always been to do a computer science course and, despite being a mother of four, she would have done, except it cost between 4,000 and 6,000 euros and she cannot afford it. Now, as secretary general of the Senegalese association, she wants to help all her compatriots with this opportunity, which she herself will also sign up for.

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Street vendors in Benalmádena: 'We come to work, not to run away from the police'

Safitu said that the policy of "zero tolerance" with the street vendors will only lead to them having nothing to take home. She complained that many Senegalese workers are on building sites earning half as much as their Spanish colleagues and said that at a municipal level they are making it hard for them to claim 'arraigo' (proof that they are settled in the town), which is the first step towards becoming legally resident. "We are honest people," she said. "We just want them to listen to us, to know our problems, and that together we do everything possible to change the situation."