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“We didn’t know what to do. We asked him, How? We paid the smuggler and he paid you! He said, I don’t have anything to do with that smuggler. You either pay, or I leave you here and go!” The driver taking Taher and other refugees through the mountains threatened to abandon them in the wilderness.

“Above you is sky and below is water, nothing else. There were women and children with us. It was a very difficult situation. You do not feel hungry or thirsty because you only want to arrive, for three days.” After escaping brutal treatment in Libya, Suleiman spent an agonising three days on a boat, not knowing if he would make it to Europe

“Women and girls die of diseases or lack of food. They are also being raped, anything is possible there. If you die, there are no burials. In BaniWalid, there are writings on the walls saying, Don’t dump bodies here!” Three Sudanese men are sitting in a refugee reception centre in Malta discussing their horrible experiences on the way through Libya and across the sea.

When Ifeoma’s business in Nigeria failed and she got into debt, her husband kicked her out of her home. She was in a desperate situation, but then she met a woman who told her she could take her to Libya to work as a housemaid. Ifeoma saw this as a chance to earn money to pay off her debts. But the journey was not as she had expected.

Seif was a student in Sudan when he and some friends decided to travel to Europe. They arranged the journey with a smuggler and left for Libya through Chad. The desert was a tough experience, there was little to eat and drink, and when they arrived in Libya, they were exhausted. There, they were kidnapped and forced to work without pay in the goldmines close to the border.

Franca was in her early twenties and the time for her coming-of-age ceremony was approaching. In her tribe in Nigeria, girls are expected to undergo female genital mutilation as an initiation rite to enter mature womanhood. Franca did not want to be cut and she escaped from home. She went to the nearest city, but then she decided to go to Libya to look for work. Having arrived in Libya, Franca realised that the grim reality was completely different from what she had expected. It was a dangerous place, especially for women.

At her school in Nigeria, Vera and her brother were being threatened by gangsters. The situation became dangerous, and her mother was very worried about her security. Vera felt she had no other option than flee from the country. She contacted a smuggler who would take her to Europe via Libya. She was surprised when the woman frankly suggested that she could earn money both in Libya and in Europe as a prostitute. Vera said she would not do such a thing, and the woman did not press the issue. When they arrived in Libya, she called her and told her that now, she must work as a prostitute to pay her debt.

Favour was preparing for her wedding in her village in Nigeria when catastrophe struck, and she had to flee for her life. Her brother killed their stepmother in an argument about the wedding, the stepmother’s family blamed Favour for what happened and vowed to kill her in revenge. Favour saw no other solution than to escape. She had heard about possibilities to work in Libya and contacted a smuggler. The journey through the desert was a horrible ordeal.

Shola was unhappy with her life in Nigeria. She wanted to study and get a job, but when she finished secondary school, her family expected her to marry, have children, and be a housewife. She decided to go to Europe to realise her plans. A woman promised to take her there, and she departed with a group of girls. They had been promised the journey would be short and easy, but already the crossing of the hot desert to Libya was an ordeal.

Gloria lost her business in Nigeria and was being harassed by her creditors. A friend told her about a possibility to go to Europe to earn money, and they left with a smuggler. The journey through the desert was harsh, they were suffering from the heat and were hungry and thirsty. When they arrived in Libya, they realised the smuggler had cheated them. They were taken to a slave market and sold. Gloria never saw her friend again.

For Precious and Osagie, life in Nigeria began to deteriorate when herdsmen started grazing their cattle on their crops. Tensions escalated into attacks between the herdsmen and the whole community and it was no longer safe for them to stay. Osagie decided to travel to Libya first through a friend who would sponsor him. Precious wanted to join him and met someone who told her she could work as a housemaid in Libya. The desert journey to Libya was enough to make them regret leaving.

Mohamed Abubakar grew up in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In school he started to play football and later joined one of the national league teams. Then he was arrested and accused of being a member of the terrorist al-Shabaab group. His family managed to get him out of jail, and he decided to leave Somalia because he did not feel safe there anymore.