VOA标准英语2010年-Activist Helps Sub-Saharan African Mig

Among Morocco's poor, few are more destitute¹ and disenfranchised than the estimated 15,000 sub-Saharan Africans who've become stranded² there on their way to Europe. Ignored by Moroccans, rejected by the government, the migrants have few allies. In this week's edition of Making a Difference, VOA introduces you to Moroccan native Hicham Baraka is doing his best to lend a hand near Oujda, his home town, where about 2,000 migrants have set up camp . 

These camps near Morocco's border with Algeria look temporary, but the undocumented migrants who live here often stay for years.

Blocked by Europe's hardened borders, and without legal status in Morocco, they survive by begging.

"Look at the kind of environment we live in. No work, no job. Many of us don't have people to call for money," Kingsley Okojie, a migrant from Nigeria said.

Moroccan authorities want them gone. The migrants describe periodic raids and deportations, with rides to the border, just a few miles away.

But one Moroccan is helping³. He is Hicham Baraka of the Beni Znassen Association. It's named after a Berber tribe in the area.

"In Muslim culture if someone knocks at your door and asks for bread or water, you give it," Baraka said.

Baraka's group provides food, clothes, and blankets to the migrants.

"They always came to this place with some food and they help us," migrant Fred Ogbeifuu said. "So I use this opportunity to thank them. Mr. Hicham's organization."

The group also monitors human rights abuses and lobbies authorities to treat migrants better.

Baraka says because so many Moroccans migrate to Europe, Morocco should set a better example. "If Morocco attacks these migrants, it gives carte blanche for my brother in Spain, my brother in Belgium, for the authorities in Spain or Belgium or France or Italy to attack Moroccan immigrants," he said.

As the only organization working with migrants in the area, there are constant calls for help.

A pregnant Congolese migrant needs a doctor.  She's gone into labor⁴. But offering help comes with a risk. Moroccan law is vague on whether it's legal to help undocumented migrants. Baraka worries that the rules could be used against him.

And he's afraid of criminals who smuggle⁵ people and drugs to Europe.

"Because of the immigrants' situation, we work with strangers. I don't always know the person I'm talking to," Baraka said.

What keeps him going are the stories of migrants like Kingsley Okojie, one of only two survivors⁶ on a truck carrying 27 migrants that lost its way in the Sahara.

"A migrant is someone trying to live, someone looking for a better life," Baraka explained. "It's not a criminal, not a dangerous person."

He says he feels obligated to try and stop the suffering
 

1 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

6 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者