Africa-Press – Cape verde. COMMENTS
The island of Santo Antão has lost, since 2010, 6965 people, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). Most of them are young people looking for better living conditions on other islands or outside the country. Facing unemployment, seeking professional recognition or simply higher education has caused an “embezzlement” in the population of the second largest island in the country.
Contrary to what is observed worldwide, with the world population reaching eight billion people, Cape Verde and, particularly, Santo Antão have noticed a drastic decrease in the resident population.
If in 2010 the island had 43,915 inhabitants, in 2021 it dropped to 36,950, according to INE’s 2010 and 2021 censuses, a reduction of 6,965 people. The municipality of Ribeira Grande is the most affected. In 2010 it was the most populous on the island, with 18,890 people, and in 2021 it had 15,128 inhabitants. Paul had 7,032 inhabitants, today it has 5770, while Porto Novo has reduced the population from 17,993 to 16,052 inhabitants today.
Even with landlocked communities, without access roads, deficient mobile network or with employment difficulties, there are many young people who have left the rural environment or even the urban environment towards other islands or abroad.
Looking for professional experiences
This is the case of 25-year-old Alene Dongo. With a degree in Public Relations and Executive Secretariat, she felt compelled to leave Santo Antão, in search of professional experiences, because, as she says, the job market is saturated on the island.
“For us young graduates we haven’t had many opportunities because the people who are framed haven’t gone into retirement and new jobs haven’t been created. This makes it very difficult for us”, she admits.
He recently moved to the capital of the country, where he thinks there are more chances of getting a job in his area of training, despite strong competition. For now, as he says, he has already acquired some experiences that, in his view, he would not have had the opportunity on the island of the mountains.
From the same municipality, Edna Lopes, 29, also left the island a few years ago. In her case, she went to take a degree in São Vicente, found work on the island of Sal as a social worker and never returned to live on the island of her birth. “Santo Antão has its advantages because the cost of living is much lower than on the tourist islands, but, unfortunately, young people don’t have many job options”.
Despite acknowledging that opportunities have begun to emerge, he believes that, even so, many young people prefer to discover new places, new work dynamics or seek recognition, appreciation and progression in work in places other than Santo Antão.
looking for progression
Adircia Sousa, 33 years old, is another young woman who decided to leave the island. She left a job in Porto Novo and has been working in one of the hotels in Boa Vista for seven years, with better salary conditions and professional recognition.
“Despite having my job, I still felt the need to leave because the salary wasn’t worth it. I felt that outside of Santo Antão I could fly higher and give more of myself, acquire more knowledge and work with bigger and more stimulating companies”, she says.
Since then, as he says, he had an “extraordinary” change of life by improving working conditions, with better wages, new knowledge and, above all, achieving the recognition he was unable to achieve in Santo Antão.
“Santo Antão has always given me many things, but in Boa Vista I got the recognition I didn’t get on my island. I managed to conquer my space here because the island welcomed me with open arms. I work in a large hotel establishment and I have been acquiring knowledge in languages, hotel management and I continue to evolve”, he advances.
sad and deserted
Our interviewee was recently on vacation on her home island and, as she told A NAÇÃO, the island felt “a little deserted”. Most of the people she knows have traveled, also looking for better living conditions. “The island is understaffed and those who remain are sad and out of work,” she says, while admitting that she would like to return to her home island someday to make her contribution to development.
This young woman believes that there are opportunities on the island of the mountains, however she says that she has felt the lack of more assertive policies to ensure that opportunities are explored, thus preventing young people from leaving. She speaks, for example, of valuing human capital and the talent of young people from Santo Antão and of a closer relationship between the Government and young people on the island and showing that “young people are important for Santo Antão”.
go abroad
Amid all this loss of population in Santo Antão, there are those who choose to leave the country. In the case of Héder Gonçalves, after some time living in Praia, the young man from Porto Novo decided to emigrate to the USA, where a good part of his family was already living, also from Santo Antão.
The search for new opportunities in life motivated this young man and his whole family to leave the island and the country. He points to the lack of opportunities at a social, cultural and sports level as other motivations for the radical change in life.
Outside Cape Verde, as I said, life has gone better, with “more job opportunities” and to achieve dreams that I never imagined achieving in Santo Antão. Now, she hopes to return one day to invest in her home island and make her contribution.
thinking about leaving
In addition to those who have already left, many other young people are also thinking of leaving Santo Antão in the near future. The lack of work is still the main reason. Euritson Andrade, 25 years old, from Cruzinha, in Ribeira Grande, is thinking of looking for another island to live in soon.
“I have had very few opportunities here. I want to expand my knowledge and look for better living conditions. Companies here in Santo Antão only want to hire interns with cheap labor and do not hire a permanent employee. Besides, they ask for years of experience, since we left the university a few days ago”, she describes.
Many people from Santo Antão have taken up residence mainly on the tourist islands of Sal and Boa Vista, but also in the country’s capital, in an attempt to escape the stagnation of Santo Antão.
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