Àwọn Musulumi ti Afirika ń ràn lọwọ láti tún ibè Spain ṣe - assalamu alaikum
Assalamu alaikum. Sudanese Osam Abdulmummin is working as a shepherd on an old farm in central Spain, writes AP. From dawn to dusk, the 25-year-old tends to a flock of 400 sheep in the village of Los Cortijos, which has around 850 inhabitants. This place was mentioned as far back as the 17th century in "Don Quixote."
Today, many small towns and villages in the Spanish countryside are losing residents: people are moving to big cities in search of a better life. Now, only about 19% of the country’s population lives in rural areas, down from 60% in 1960, and only about 4% of Spaniards are engaged in agriculture. If it weren't for migrants, many traditional crafts, like shepherding, might have disappeared.
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, which are known for their sheep cheese.
Local farmers, like Álvaro Esteban, who inherited the farm from his ancestors, complain that they don’t know where to find workers. Seeing the decline of the village, he even went to Wales, but during the pandemic, he returned and decided to try to revive the family business. In government sheep care courses, he met Osam and later hired him.
Now, Esteban, along with his 61-year-old father, runs the farm and produces cheese that is sold in shops and restaurants. 27-year-old Sharifa Issa from Ghana also completed the sheep breeding course - he’s happy to learn this profession since he has loved animals since childhood.
After five days of training, migrants practice and then can work with the necessary documents; authorities usually help with employment. About 51% of graduates become shepherds, 15% go into slaughtering, while the rest work in orchards with olives and fruits. Most of the attendees are asylum seekers.
Osam wakes up for morning prayer at 5 AM, after which he takes the herd out to the field. He lives alone; there are three more Africans working with him in the village. Osam is learning Spanish and plays football with the locals on weekends. He notes that there are very few young people left in the village. Once a week, he calls his family in Sudan. He earns about 1300 euros a month - by local standards, this is at the poverty line, so he can’t help his family financially too often.
“I’m not looking for another job for now. It’s quiet and peaceful here, I like living in this village,” he says.
According to Álvaro, without migrants, many farms in the region, including his, would have closed: very few Spaniards are willing to work in agriculture, and even fewer know how to do it. “Many of the farms that exist now, there will be no one to pass them on to. The children don’t want to follow their parents. This sector is going through tough times,” the farmer sadly adds.
May Allah bless those who revive traditional crafts and help communities preserve labor and the daily bread.
https://islamnews.ru/2025/10/2