[Part 1/5]

“Oh, the journey was not easy! We were 9 small inflatable boats on that day. They sent us off from Libya on a Friday at dawn. Everyone was anxious. The small boat was full, we were sitting on the sides of the boat, one feet inside and the other in the sea. Imagine being in this position for 10 or 11 hours. Some are so stressed out that they started to vomit, others fainted. Because you’re looking at the sea, it is so vast and there’s nothing else around. You don’t know where you are, you don’t even know where you’re going. But you’re ready to die, you’re thinking “make it, or break it”.

There were pregnant women amongst us, a newborn baby who was at most 1 or 2 month old, and a woman who was sick. There wasn’t any water or any food. And at some point someone started motivating everyone to praise God. Whether you were Muslim, Christian, Animist, or something else, everyone was praying to his God within his heart. There was only one goal: reaching our destination safe and sound.

But we didn’t make it on this day. We were out of fuel before we could reach the international zone. The waves of the sea started carrying us to an unknown destination. Despair took over. We all started to pray, to ask for forgiveness to God within our heart. Some started to cry. We were aware that if the boat broke apart now, we would die, that the time would have come. These are times when you think about your inner self. You’re seeing your life coming to an end. And we stayed like that, desperate, throughout Friday and Saturday.

Then, at one point, we saw a fisherman and his big boat. I’ll tell you honestly, joy and emotion brought me to tears. We were rescued and brought to the refugee camp in Tunisia. Out of the 9 boats, 2 made it to the international zone. But is so happened that their boat broke apart. 48 people died. Our sisters, our brothers, children, innocent people…”

(translated from French)

Published On: 7 December 2020

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[Part 1/5]

“Oh, the journey was not easy! We were 9 small inflatable boats on that day. They sent us off from Libya on a Friday at dawn. Everyone was anxious. The small boat was full, we were sitting on the sides of the boat, one feet inside and the other in the sea. Imagine being in this position for 10 or 11 hours. Some are so stressed out that they started to vomit, others fainted. Because you’re looking at the sea, it is so vast and there’s nothing else around. You don’t know where you are, you don’t even know where you’re going. But you’re ready to die, you’re thinking “make it, or break it”.

There were pregnant women amongst us, a newborn baby who was at most 1 or 2 month old, and a woman who was sick. There wasn’t any water or any food. And at some point someone started motivating everyone to praise God. Whether you were Muslim, Christian, Animist, or something else, everyone was praying to his God within his heart. There was only one goal: reaching our destination safe and sound.

But we didn’t make it on this day. We were out of fuel before we could reach the international zone. The waves of the sea started carrying us to an unknown destination. Despair took over. We all started to pray, to ask for forgiveness to God within our heart. Some started to cry. We were aware that if the boat broke apart now, we would die, that the time would have come. These are times when you think about your inner self. You’re seeing your life coming to an end. And we stayed like that, desperate, throughout Friday and Saturday.

Then, at one point, we saw a fisherman and his big boat. I’ll tell you honestly, joy and emotion brought me to tears. We were rescued and brought to the refugee camp in Tunisia. Out of the 9 boats, 2 made it to the international zone. But is so happened that their boat broke apart. 48 people died. Our sisters, our brothers, children, innocent people…”

(translated from French)

Published On: 7 December 2020