Shantytowns in Andalusia

September 30, 2021. Zou is Senegalese and arrived at the shantytown after a few months working in Galicia. Like him, many seasonal workers travel all over Spain, looking for work depending on the fruit season they are in. Lepe, Huelva (Spain).

September 30, 2021. Flooding in these shanty camps is a frequent occurrence. The last one happened after a strong storm, DANA, caused the river next to the settlement to burst its banks, carrying away entire shacks, clothes and some objects belonging to the people living there. Lepe, Huelva (Spain).

September 30, 2021. The sanitary conditions in these shantytowns are minimal, if not non-existent, which is why the people who live in them can contract infections and other health problems on a frequent basis. The coexistence with domestic and wild animals makes this situation worse. Lepe, Huelva (Spain).

September 30, 2021. A boy looks inside one of the camp’s shacks, searching for one of his friends. These shacks are usually made of cardboard and wood in the structure and different types of plastic to insulate the inside from the weather. Shanty settlements like this one can be found around different towns and cities in the area. Lepe, Huelva (Spain).

June 12, 2021. Peter and Emmanuel are from Ghana and live in a shack at the foot of the road that connects Níjar with San Isidro.
Lacking legal papers, they do odd jobs working in the fields and greenhouses in the area. Many of them say that they suffer extortion by the owners of these greenhouses, who ask them for up to €5,000 to offer them a job offer, which would allow them to start the process of obtaining legal papers. Níjar, Almería (Spain).

September 30, 2021. Asina (not his real name), a young man of Senegalese origin, is sitting watching television in one of the premises managed by the Asnuci association in the city. In these premises, they can wash, shower and change clothes for a small fee, either as members or as occasional visitors. Some of them complain that these services should be free because of the situation of desperation and poverty they face. Lepe, Huelva (Spain).

October 1, 2021. Situation of one of the greenhouses around the shantytown, after the DANA storm that destroyed a large part of the harvest. Most of the seasonal workers in the area work in intensive soft fruit greenhouses like this one. Sometimes they can work up to twelve hours a day, depending on the fruit growing season. Lepe, Huelva (Spain).

June 10, 2021. Fátima, a young woman of Moroccan origin, is collecting water at one of the wells in the San Isidro camp. Basic resources such as water are sometimes scarce in this area and many seasonal workers travel long distances to reach these water supply points. This area of Almeria, known as Mar de Plástico, is famous for a large number of horticultural greenhouses and therefore shanty towns that have been established around them for many years. San Isidro, Almeria (Spain).