Sudan

Kiros and his wife Adiam met in a refugee camp for Eritreans in Ethiopia, got married and started a family. Because of the lack of job opportunities in the camp, they moved to Sudan, where they hoped to be able to earn a living. That proved to be very difficult, and Kiros decided to go to South Sudan, where he stayed working for a year. When he returned to Khartoum, his family had left to go to Europe via Libya. Their situation in Sudan had become unbearable and Adiam had not been able to contact her husband. He now had no idea where they were but decided to follow them to Europe.

Abdirahim embarked on his irregular journey in 2014 with the objective of getting to Europe. Despite his awareness of the dangers that come with such journeys, he was willing to gamble with his life and try, hoping to be one of the people who succeed in making it.

“They think that as soon as they arrive here, they will get a well-paid job and be able to support their families. But it’s difficult to get a job and there’s a long process to go through before you can stand on your own feet.”Daniel speaks about the cultural shock asylum seekers experience when they arrive in the country of asylum and realize that nothing is what they had expected. 

Originally from Mogadishu, Halima has been through a great deal during her journey to Europe. And despite her eventual arrival there, the last seven years have seen her traveling between different countries seeking asylum without any success.

Abdirahman was living in Hargeisa, Somalia when he started getting jealous of his friends who had gone to Europe. They were telling him that life there was wonderful, and he wanted to join them. With some other youths, he contacted a smuggler who arranged for their trip through Ethiopia, Sudan, and Libya. In the beginning, the journey was easy and the smugglers friendly and helpful.

“I was told that in Europe you find money everywhere, even in the streets. A place where you can find money easily and can build your future.” Mustafa was seduced by all the fantastic stories and decided to take the smuggling route to Europe through Libya.

“The journey had a huge impact on my life. It’s not something you can easily forget. I faced a lot of things that I didn’t expect, beating, robbery and pain. I saw a lot of suffering that I hadn’t even imagined before. Things I had heard about but thought were lies.”

Sa’ad felt bad about leaving his family but his friends in Europe encouraged him to go. The trip through Sudan and Libya became a nightmare, confirming his worst forebodings. Watch his story!

“Always when you follow the legal procedures, it’s very helpful in life. A lot of my brothers escaped from Italy. They still have no legal status, they are still drifting about and facing a lot of problems. So, what I went through, the legal procedure that took ten months, has helped me a lot.” Nesh Nesh speaks about how some asylum seekers go from country to country instead of following the slow but legal path to asylum. Watch his story!

“When they told us they were Daesh, we prepared ourselves to be sacrificed like lambs to the slaughter.” On their way through Libya, Tekle and his fellow travelers were kidnapped by terrorists pledging allegiance to Daesh (ISIS). They knew there was no mercy for them. Watch his story!

“They see you as money. Imagine that your life is valued in terms of money and you are shipped around like a piece of commodity.” Aman describes how he and his friends were kidnapped in Libya and sold from one band of traffickers to another, like animals in a market. Watch his story!