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‪Mamadou Dia, a native of Gandiol (Saint-Louis, Senegal), traveled throughout the West African sub-region before embarking in May 2006, at the age of almost 23, on a pirogue bound for Spain from Yarakh, a fishing village near Dakar. A “stowaway” (“illegal migrant”) for four years, he recounts in a book his journey and living conditions, then decides to return to Senegal, to Gandiol, to build projects for and with the young people of his village. As president of the Hahatay NGO in Gandiol, he distances himself from the rhetoric and practices of “development” to emphasize what he describes as “community self-realization.” And yet, his profile and actions seem to be in line with one of the main thrusts of the international development arena, namely the contribution of return migrants to the development of their areas of origin and, by the same token, to the fight against “irregular” emigration. The aim of this interview with Mamadou Dia is to explore the paradoxes of his positioning as a former migrant and local community player in relation to the development programs from which he has benefited and which he has been able to appropriate. He shares his views on the reception of the discourses and actions of returning migrants by donors and organizations working to combat clandestine emigration, as well as by those who have never left but may dream of leaving, too.‪