by
Ying-Yu Alicia Chen

Recorded:
January to November 2021

Published:
26 November 2021

Meet Rehinat.

25 years old and from Auchi, Nigeria.

To be able to reach Europe she has crossed three countries: Nigeria, Niger and Libya. Her journey has so far taken about five years.

In November 2016, Rehinat was deceived by a smuggler who said on a call and in messages that he could help her reach Europe. Once there, she would work in a major food store for him. Instead, she was trafficked as a prostitute to Libya. She was 21 years old.

“It was not a brothel, right?” Rehinat said to confirm via phone. And he reassured her. She never met him.

She arrived at the Nigerian-Niger border and waited two weeks for a full manifest of passengers to accumulate. She had no passport and few belongings with her. She didn’t know her destination when she finally started moving again.

Rehinat crossed the Sahara desert tied to the rooftop of a 9-passenger Toyota with 30 men, nine women and two children. She was drained as there was no food and water given. The journey through the desert took about two weeks in total. The trip left many onboard extremely weak, but all survived.

After her truck arrived at the next gathering point, she was put in a taxi, crossed borders and arrived in Tripoli, Libya’s capital, in December 2016. A woman awaited her there, paid the driver her travel fees and brought her to a suspicious house. That’s when she realized what was going on.

“The man told me it’s not a brothel,” Rehinat cried, “but the lady said that man sold me to her.”

The man sold Rehinat to the woman and had no choice but to work for her. She was one among many women, mostly from Ghana and Nigeria, sold into prostitution to pay off debts to the woman. In total, Rehinat owed about 800,000 niras (1,950 USD).

“I was crying and crying and crying. That was not what I expected to do before leaving my country,” she said. It took her seven months working with no break for her to pay all of the money back.

Finally, she was set free. While looking for any kind of job besides sex work in southern Tripoli, she met a man from Ghana in a supermarket. He treated her gently, not like the other men in Libya who only looked at her or took her as a sex slave. The Ghanaian man rented her his apartment. She was lucky to find housework and cleaning in the same neighborhood. She thought he was her savior. Eventually, they moved in together. They had a baby in 2019.

“After my son was born, the fighting in Libya intensified and there were no schools for my kid to study. We decided to cross the sea,” said Rehinat.

She used her savings to buy boat tickets for her family. The first time she bought cheap fares, and in the end no boat was arranged for them, it was a scam. She found another smuggler and bought tickets again. It was 350,000 niras (850 USD) per person. It was the summer of 2020 when they got their chance to leave.

One early morning at about 4:00 or 5:00 a.m., a rubber dinghy carried roughly 125 people to Italy, including five women and their children. The boat started to sink. It was just six hours after setting sail. They neared Malta and saw a Malta-flagged ship. She thought God saw them and sent someone to save them. The people onboard were shouting, desperate for the crew to rescue them. But they did not. They were left adrift at sea.

“The rescue boat was not far from us, but they didn't rescue us.” she said.

Just as her hope ran out, a Tunisian fisherman who worked in Libya passed by. Rehinat and the others begged him to save their lives.

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“He was a father of three, so I believe he can sympathize with our situation,” Rehinat said. He said he would bring them back to Libya, but not to Europe. Most onboard agreed on the return, but others protested and jumped in the water. Three of them died.

“I was so scared,” Rehinat said, “They knew it’s probably better to die than to be sent to Libyan prison.”

If she didn’t have a little kid, she said she might have been one to end her life too. Everybody knew what they would suffer in prison.

Once on land, she was supposed to have been arrested but somehow escaped – she lied to the police on the shore and ran away.

Rehinat attempted again to cross the Mediterranean Sea in a wooden boat at 2:00a.m. on a night in June 2021 with about 30 people, including her and her son. She was out at sea for seven or 8 hours when Malta was visible on the horizon. The Libyan police spotted them and chased them. The captain of the wooden boat and other men onboard tried to escape. The police were on a bigger and faster ship.

They shot at the surface of the sea with their guns, ordering them to stop. It was scorching hot under the sun. They lost all energy to keep fighting. The boat was intercepted and returned to Libya. Everyone on board survived, but were sent to Libyan prison, including Rehinat and her two-and-a-half year old son.

“It was terrifying,” she said.

“The prison was cramped,” said Rehinat, “I saw about 80 women and children starving. People were beaten and treated very badly.” She was also 4 months pregnant, exacerbating the already extreme discomfort, terror and abuse. She was in prison for five days with her son and her unborn baby; her friend paid 3,800 dinars to have her released.

Once home, she was abused by the child’s father. He paid for her ticket to Europe and was angry the journey failed. He bought Rehinat the boat tickets because he hoped she could deliver their second baby in Europe, saying that it’s better for its future. But when she came back home from prison, she found him with another woman. Rehinat was so angry with him, and also that the crossing didn’t succeed.

The stress at home continued. Her partner lost his construction job because of the pandemic. They had more fights, there was more abuse. He hit her and beat her. He dragged her from the kitchen to the bedroom. Her back and neck are still hurt every time she goes to sit down. She has a hearing problem now. He slapped her so many times that her head is still rattled.

She was weak. She was still pregnant but had no money to go to a hospital for a checkup.

“I didn’t know if I could survive to the next day.” She sent a voice message while laying on her bed, almost fainting. She finally contacted her friend, who sent her to the hospital. Rehinat lost the baby and had an emergency miscarriage operation.

“It’s very painful. But honestly I was relieved. How could I feed another kid if I barely can feed my son and myself?” Rehinat said two or three days after the operation.

When her companion and the baby’s father found out, he left her. Miscarriage is a valid reason to abandon a woman in his religion and culture, she said. Sadly or luckily, that decision saved her from further domestic abuse.

“Life in Libya is too difficult,” she said. “Nowhere is safe here. But I am doing okay now. I am a tough woman,” Rehinat continued, “I believe hope is out there. Thanks for making me feel I’m not alone.”

Our last conversation with Rehinat was via WhatsApp on 19 November 2021 from a coastal city in Libya where she is still trapped.

Rehinat is an amazing human being.

Alicia Chen remains in contact with Rehinat and will continue to report updates on her journey as they become available.