Muslim Afrika mbantu nguripake desa-desa Spanyol - assalamu alaikum
Assalamualaikum. Sudanese Osama Abdulmummin is working as a shepherd on an old farm in central Spain, according to AP. From dawn till dusk, this 25-year-old young man tends to a flock of 400 sheep in the village of Los Cortijos, where around 850 people live. This place was mentioned as far back as the 17th century in "Don Quixote."
Today, a lot of small towns and villages in the Spanish countryside are losing residents: people are moving to bigger cities in search of a better life. Right now, only 19% of the country's population lives in rural areas compared to 60% in 1960, and only about 4% of Spaniards are involved in agriculture. If it weren't for migrants, many traditional crafts, like shepherding, might disappear.
The government has launched a program that helps refugees and migrants from various countries, from Afghanistan to Venezuela, to get education in agricultural professions and work on local farms known for their sheep cheese.
Local farmers, like Alvaro Esteban, who inherited the farm from his ancestors, complain they don't know where to find workers. Seeing the decline of the village, he even went to Wales, but during the pandemic, he came back and decided to try to revive the family business. At state courses on sheep care, he met Osama and later offered him a job.
Now Esteban, along with his 61-year-old father, runs the farm and produces cheese that gets sold in stores and restaurants. 27-year-old Sharifa Issa from Ghana also completed a sheep farming course-he's excited to learn the profession since he loves animals since childhood.
After five days of training, migrants go through practical training and then can work with the necessary documents; authorities usually help with employment. About 51% of graduates become shepherds, 15% go into slaughterhouses, and the rest work in gardens with olives and fruits. Most of the participants are seeking temporary asylum.
Osama gets up for morning prayer at 5 AM, after which he takes the flock out to the fields. He lives alone; in the village, three other Africans work with him. Osama is learning Spanish and on weekends he plays football with the locals. He notes that there's very little youth left in the village. Once a week, he calls his family in Sudan. He earns around 1300 euros a month-which, by local standards, is at the level of the subsistence minimum-so he can't help his family financially very often.
"I won’t look for another job yet. It's quiet and peaceful here, I like living in this village," he says.
According to Alvaro, without migrants, many farms in the region, including his, would have shut down: few Spaniards are willing to work in agriculture, and even fewer know how to do it. "Many farms that exist now won't have anyone to pass them on to. Kids don’t want to follow their parents. This sector is going through tough times," the farmer adds sadly.
May Allah bless those who bring traditional crafts back to life and help communities sustain their labor and daily bread.
https://islamnews.ru/2025/10/2