Ibrahim’s Story: Separated during the journey
Ibrahim and his wife were living as Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia but conditions there were so bad that he decided to move to Sudan where he hoped to find more job opportunities. The trip from Ethiopia to Sudan was difficult. The people on the move were at the mercy of cruel and ruthless smugglers.
“They told us that when we reached Hajar we would have to pay them. Those who didn’t pay would be left behind. They were told they would be sold to the Rashaida tribe.”
Living conditions in Sudan were not much better than in Ethiopia. Although Ibrahim now worked as a barber and his wife had joined him in Khartoum, they could not make ends meet. Therefore, they made the momentous decision to try to go to Europe through Libya. Ibrahim again contacted some smugglers.
Having departed from Khartoum they some days later arrived at a transfer place in the desert where they were handed over to another band of smugglers. The trip through the Sahara to the Libyan coast involves several handovers, because the same smugglers cannot take people all the way from Khartoum to Tripoli. At this transfer place they had to stay for some time and witnessed how brutally people were being treated.
“The smugglers have a bad attitude towards women and children. As for old people, they don’t consider them as human beings. There were people who were beaten with sticks, even with spades.”
Finally, they managed to reach the sea coast, but just as they arrived, they learned they had missed the boat. They would have to wait three months for the next opportunity. The place they were being held at did not have clean water which led to an outbreak of skin disease and two people died.
At last a boat was ready to depart but it became so overloaded that some people had to be left behind on the beach to wait for another. Ibrahim was one of the lucky ones. He was safely onboard when the boat departed, in the compartment reserved for men, but he did not know that his wife was among those who had been left behind. It was only after they had been rescued by a big ship that he realized she was not with them.
“I almost decided to jump off the big ship, but my friends held me back. They supported me and stood by me. Then when we arrived in Lampedusa, we learned that she was alive and that there were many who had remained in Libya.”
It would take three months before they would meet again. Her sea crossing was also dramatic, because the boat she was in had a broken engine and had to be pulled by another. Fortunately, they managed to cross the sea safely and after this terrible ordeal Ibrahim and his wife could reunite in Rome.