Tales from La Savoie

Three naive and innocent youngsters from the Peanut Basin of Senegal find themselves thrown together and exiled to Europe by the brotherhood, a business conglomerate with tentacles that stretch from the sands of Senegal across to North Africa and into Europe and the United States of America. Alioune, Mi-Mi and Matar are destined to enter Europe clandestinely and join the brotherhood's army of illegal and quasi-slave workers. Their passage to Europe takes them across the burning sands of Mauritania, the Western Sahara and through Morocco where they await transportation by inflatable boat to Europe from the heart of the El Hoceima National Park. Fate intervenes and their journey to Europe does not go quite as planned. The three youngsters are obliged to survive by their quick wits, good luck and the strangely coincidental intervention of well organised charitable organisations that help them travel to their secondary destination of Chambery in La Savoie. Once safely installed in the city of the 'Four Half Elephants' they attempt to rebuild their lives while seeking to integrate socially, economically and legally into France. Mi-Mi proves to have a talent for business, Alioune for kindness and hard work while Matar is the charmer among the trio. As their combined stories begin to unfold, it becomes clear to them that they have wandered into a spider's web of complicity that links big business, charitable organisations, high profile political financiers and international criminal organisations. Together their activities underpin and nurture human trafficking from poor or war-torn countries towards the anticipated panacea of Europe.