Many thousands of Tunisian boat people are making the 70-mile crossing to the small Italian island of Lampedusa. So how is the island community coping with this massive influx of immigrants?

RNW's Angelo van Schaik went there and spoke to Lampedusa’s only Dutch inhabitant, Marianne Kamstra.

On the jetty there are 35 young men. They get on a bus that takes them to a detention centre elsewhere on the island. The men look exhausted. Filthy clothes, dull eyes, sunburnt faces. In the wooden fishing boat you can still see the remnants of a hard journey: dirty woollen blankets, empty water bottles, a single shoe and some jerrycans with fuel.

Last weekend a raging storm briefly paused the flow of immigrants, but as soon as it was calm enough, it was back to business: fifteen rickety boats arrived on the Italian island, carrying over a thousand Tunisians. In February 8000 immigrants made the crossing to the island.

Desperate
It isn’t quite the influx the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs had feared, but there are enough boats to make the authorities nervous. Not the islanders, they don’t get nervous that easily anymore. “They mainly feel sorry,” says Dutch woman Marianne Kamstra. “Of course you are very aware that people who undertake such a risky journey and are willing to fork out so much money are really desperate.”

Ms Kamstra sticks out with her stereotypical Dutch looks: she's blond, blue-eyed and a foot taller than the other islanders. She is the only Dutch person on Lampedusa. She went there 26 years ago believing the island to be Malta. And she's never left. “Now I’ve really settled down because I married an islander. But I’ll always be an outsider, 'l'Olandese'.” Her husband Pietro is a fisherman and her two sons, aged 19 and 16, help their father at sea.

Beter life
Lampedusa is a rugged rocky island of around 20 square kilometres. It lies in the Mediterranean Sea, about 113 kilometres from the Tunisian coast. And that’s what makes the island such a popular destination for immigrants looking for a better life. With good weather and a decent vessel it takes around 12 hours to cover the 70 sea miles. But it doesn't always go so smoothly says Ms Kamstra. 

“Often the engine breaks and they drift for days on the sea, they are lucky to reach their destination.”

For more than 20 years migrants from Africa have tried to reach Europe via Lampedusa.

“In the beginning the islanders gave these people food and a roof over their heads. But this isn’t allowed anymore. If you help people now, you can be charged with stimulating illegal immigration.”

Most people stick to the rules, but Ms Kamstra says there are still exceptions. “A couple of months ago, a fisherman who was out on sea took immigrations on his boat. And he would do it again. He believes he shouldn’t let these people drown.”

No customs
In 2009 things quieted down along the shores of Lampedusa after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made agreements with Libya and Tunisia about stopping the immigrants. But the unrest in North Africa put an end to that. The Libyan and Tunisian coast guards have more or less lost control over their territories. This means that, especially in Tunisia, there is room for human trafficking again.

So now thousands of refugees are trying to make the crossing again. But Ms Kamstra doesn't seem worried.

“At one point there were more foreigners than inhabitants of Lampedusa on the island. People were afraid the situation might get out of hand, that there would be fights. Luckily that didn’t happen, but people were afraid it might. But there is no discrimination whatsoever.”