Meet Destiny

Destiny in Lampedusa, Italy. 29 April 2017. ©Pamela Kerpius

Destiny in Lampedusa, Italy. 29 April 2017. ©Pamela Kerpius/Migrants of the Mediterranean

 

by
Pamela Kerpius

Recorded:
29 April 2017

Published:
May 2017



Meet Destiny.

22 years old and from Imo, Nigeria.

To reach Lampedusa he crossed three countries: Nigeria, Niger, and the most dangerous of all, Libya.

His trip took about seven months. He spent two weeks in Niger, then crossed the Sahara desert, which took two weeks in total––an exceptionally long time considering the average trip takes four days. He slept on the ground; eight passengers died along the way.

He arrived in Sabha, Libya and remained there for two weeks. He was beaten and given electric shock; two of his friends died.

If he escaped or was transferred by traffickers, I don’t know; however, he arrived in Sabratha, the coastal town outside of Tripoli and stayed there for two months.

…small boys will beat you,
they will try and kill you.
 


In Sabratha, he said, “You cannot work, because…small boys will beat you, they will try and kill you. I [was] afraid to go out.”

It’s a common account of migrants who’ve come through the camp, leaving them, ultimately, two options. Migrants may go outside and risk being killed, enslaved, or captured. Or, they can stay inside the camp, where they’ll find few necessities (like fresh water, food, and bathing facilities), and be forced to brace themselves against the sea air at night without blankets, beds, or shelter.

He made multiple attempts at crossing the sea. On the first try, he was caught and brought to prison. Others he knew died. One 18-year-old passenger, his friend, he says, died at sea. There were 137 people on board that boat. Small boys with machine guns robbed the survivors.

Destiny spent one month in prison in Sabratha.

He would not talk about what happened inside prison because he did not want to cry. He was already broken up recalling his friend’s death in the sea.

On his second attempt, Destiny crossed the Mediterranean Sea in a rubber dinghy with 130 people in mid-April 2017. On board were five pregnant women and one newborn baby.

His was rescued by the Guardia Costiera and taken to Lampedusa, arriving Saturday, April 15, 2017.

Destiny is an amazing human being.