Crossing the Sahara: “It’s a burial ground”

There were many factors behind Fara’s decision to leave Nigeria. Her mother had died, and her father later sold her siblings.

They were all separated except for Fara and her sister. However, Fara faced regular abuse and maltreatment from her sister’s husband so when she couldn’t bear it any longer, she left.

This decision would mark the start of Fara’s journey to Libya – one she said she would not advise anyone at home to embark on, no matter what they are escaping.

Fara crossed the desert in a van – known as an “ilios” among migrants – packed so tightly she couldn’t stretch her legs.

At one point, someone fainted on top of her. Everyone began screaming “somebody is dead” and the driver finally stopped. The woman was given CPR – and survived.

“The journey is so hard and it’s so stressful but once you start there’s nothing you can do, you have to continue.”

Eventually, they arrived in Kano and had to get on bikes to get to the next town.

“If you can’t hold yourself and you fall down, no one would stop for you. They will leave you in the desert. They don’t care.”

The emptiness of the desert was another threat Fara and other migrants had to be cautious of. Between the heat, the haze and the sand, many people get lost and die while en route to Libya.

While sleeping in between drives through the Sahara, they were instructed not to move away from the group.

“We huddled together, sleeping with our heads pressed against one another to stay safe.”

“A lot of things happen in the desert,” Fara said, “It’s a burial ground, there are many souls.”

Fara explained that crossing the desert was the most difficult part of the journey

After getting to Libya they travelled to the coast, and there, she saw a lot of mothers with children trying to cross by sea. “At that point in Libya, there were no schools and it was too dangerous to walk around freely, that’s why so many people leave.”

In Libya, women Libya face many restrictions, from how they dress to how they communicate.

“If you needed to make a call, you had to do it in secret.”

This, she explained, was due to the presence of “Asma boys” – a term that many sub-Saharan migrants use to describe those in the business of holding migrants for ransom. Several migrants said that the Asma boys can belong to either criminal gangs, militias or the Libyan police, according to CNN.

Fara said that these Asma boys are often responsible for kidnappings and even arbitrary detentions to Libyan prisons.

That’s what happened to her.

Life in prison: “Many people die there”

Fara saw two people get sick and die in her one-month stint in prison. At one point, that was close to being her fate.

“Many people get sick and there’s no medication, no treatment and no doctors,” she said.

Fara caught chicken pox in prison, along with three others. It spread across her entire body.

After pleading continuously for help, they took her from one station to another where she was able to call somebody that she knew. From there, she was released.

Crossing the Mediterranean Sea

Fara crossed from Libya to Italy on a big boat packed so tightly that they had to sit in between each others’ legs.

Around six pregnant women on board struggled to breathe, their bellies crushed by others sitting in front.

Fara witnessed a person die during this process; he was an old man.

“After we got rescued, someone started asking ‘Where’s my brother?’ But his brother was already gone – underwater.”

While travelling, their boat came across the floating bodies from three or four capsized boats. They managed to rescue some people but many others were already dead.

Despite the trauma that this part of the journey undoubtedly caused, Fara was clear in saying the hardest part of getting to Europe was crossing the Sahara. Many smugglers don’t care about the lives of migrants and often leave them for dead. If they fall off a bike or a van, there isn’t a second thought but to keep on going as they die in the sand.

With the heat, exhaustion, and constant fear, Fara said the journey simply wasn’t worth it.

Connecting the Dots: Migration, Gender Justice and EU Solidarity

This interview is part of a series being released in the lead-up to an event organised by local NGO TAMA Connecting the Dots: Migration, Gender Justice and EU Solidarity.

It’s a completely free event taking place on 24th May where people will be sharing their stories of gender-based violence during the migration process. The event will feature panels, film screenings and a variety of workshops intended to shed light on what it takes to seek refuge in Europe.

Fara’s story is just one of many, but it speaks volumes. It is a stark reminder that behind the headlines and statistics are real people – people who have faced unimaginable choices and suffered in ways that many of us cannot comprehend.

A big thank you goes to The Embassy Valletta Hotel for allowing us to use their premises for this interview.