Everything is very much clearer in these extraordinary photographs. The beach has become a first aid arena, with response teams from the Spanish Red Cross (Cruz Roja Española) treating dehydration, hunger and exposure. But the sunseekers are not concerned on-lookers. They are deeply involved, handing out blankets, drinks and basic food. They are holding drips, checking breathing and consciousness, assisting with stretchers and providing shade.
Writing activity
As a written activity, in class or for homework, ask students to imagine they were on that beach when a boat arrived carrying many very distressed people – just as in the photographs. They could write as if they were:
- One of the migrants on the boat, remembering the day sometime later
- A first-time holiday maker on the beach, who was shocked by what was happening
- A resident of Tenerife, now very familiar with the sight of migrant boats.
Ask students to structure their writing so that it brings out the following elements:
a) how they felt
b) how others around them reacted
c) what they would like for the future
If a written activity is not appropriate, continue discussing in class, along the lines of the written exercise. The group could be split into three, each taking one of the personas. Give time to prepare on each of the three elements, then let each smaller group present their thoughts.
Phase 3Feed back and discuss any points that emerged from the last exercise.
Then read out the following, which tells the story through an eyewitness to these events – the photographer who took the pictures. Arturo Rodriguez won an award for the pictures, which were published in a magazine called XL Semanal. A resident of Tenerife, he had been alerted to the boat's arrival by a phone call and taken his cameras down to Tejita beach. The opening remarks refer to the original photograph, seen at the beginning of this lesson plan:
“The man on the right was a Spanish tourist, doing all he could to help the migrants. He was paying particular attention to this one man (on the left of the picture), who seemed to be in a very poor shape.
“The two men were not speaking much to each other. The tourist was using simple gestures to ask if he wanted water or a blanket.”
You may want to break there and compare this account with what students came up with in phase 1, then continue with Arturo’s story.
He wasn't, as the pictures show, the only tourist helping the migrants. “The atmosphere on the beach was one of total solidarity,” says Arturo Rodriguez.
But that was quite a change, as he explains: “A few weeks before, there had been xenophobia on the island. There was a feeling building among residents that they were being silently invaded. On this day, the opposite happened. There was a reaction against such fears, a contrast and a change in people's attitude towards the migrants. I think that a lot of those who had been speaking negatively about them felt ashamed, once they saw how the tourists on the beach had set such a good example by helping.”
Break and discuss. Talk about the difference between your attitude towards people you don't know but may feel threatened by, and when you meet a real human being who needs help. Can students think of examples from their own lives where hostility to a group of people in the abstract turns into sympathy and understanding for real individuals? Some people say that racism and intolerance are based on ignorance. Do students agree?
Discuss the response from the beach tourists. The photographer says that some of the island residents felt ashamed when they saw the humanitarian impulse in action. What do students feel about that? Are they heartwarmed by the reaction?
When they have discussed the actions of the day – point out a simple but telling fact. This wasn't what usually happened. The tourists helping may seem a normal and instinctive response – but it was actually extraordinary.
There have been other similar occasions, when tourists helped migrants in need. But very often all that happens when a boat arrives is that the police and the Spanish Red Cross are called, and they deal with it on their own.
Arturo Rodriguez says, “I think that sometimes we like to see ourselves as heroes, and that is why my photos caught people’s attention. In fact, much more dramatic scenes took place that summer. But they went unnoticed.
“On other days, on other beaches, it would have been possible to take photographs which contrasted with these – showing no one doing anything much to help.”
Discuss this. What might cause people sometimes to help but not at other times? Do people tend to follow the group? Would they be reluctant to do anything until someone else took the lead? What would students feel like if they were shown photos of migrants washed up and suffering on the beach, while tourists ignored them and carried on sunbathing? Would that affect their view of the humanitarian impulse?
Further exploration There are many potential areas to explore, either in class discussion or in written or project work.
> When one route to Europe is closed to people smugglers because of additional security, another one tends to open up. Trace the recent history of such smuggling routes.
> “Week in and week out, our colleagues in Europe pull people in the worst imaginable state out of the ocean,” said one Red Cross expert recently. “It is a humanitarian challenge as much as it is a political one.” Invite students to separate out these two strands. In what way is the humanitarian challenge different from the political one?
> Explore the practicalities of first aid on the beach. Despite the heat of summer in Tenerife, some of the migrants were very cold. Notice from the photographs that some of the helpers are wearing latex gloves. These were provided by the Spanish Red Cross, and are there to help reduce the risk of cross infection particularly when the migrants’ immune systems will be weak. Some helpers were reluctant to use them, because they felt they dehumanised their assistance. The migrants were so cold and in need of help, one helper thought they needed hugging, not touching with gloves. Discuss the realities.
> It is not possible to say what happened to the individuals in the photographs. The photographer thinks that the African man in the first picture went to hospital. From there he would have probably gone to a detention centre. “I don't know if they deported him or if in the end he stayed in Europe. The tourist, I suppose, carried on his day at the beach. But I'm sure the situation changed his life.” Explore any of these issues – from the life-changing experience of the tourist to the realities of deportation. The BBC website has a summary of the key issues, the common migrant routes and key economic information.
> Readers of Spanish might like to see the photographer's website, which includes more examples of his work, and the XL Semanal magazine article.
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