Senegalese migrants make up a large proportion of the residents of the shelter. Despite the distance from their homes in west Africa, many have come to Brazil since 2013, preferring to avoid the more common but difficult routes to Europe. Migrants say that smugglers also promote this option, claiming borders are open and there will be a good hotel with TVs when they get there. From January to June this year, about 900 people from Senegal arrived at Rio Branco. Here, Senegalese migrants stand below a picture of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood, a Sufi Islam order