by
Pamela Kerpius

Recorded:
3 March 2022

Published:
4 April 2022

Meet Mustapha.

16 years old and from Gambia.

To reach Europe he crossed five countries: The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Algeria and Libya.

His journey took about one year and three months.

He left Gambia with his birth certificate but no national ID, traveling by bus through Senegal, a trip that took about three or four days. By bus, his travel continued through Mali, where he met three people, all from his area of Gambia. They traveled through Gao, Mali, then went onward to Algeria.

Mustapha spend three days and three nights in the Sahara desert en route to Algeria, stopping briefly in a small town in Mali then to Timiaouine, Algeria, both at the border. He had no food but a packet of biscuits and a few bottles of water he carried with him.

He crossed through various villages that were around before arriving in Tamanrasset, Algeria after about three days. His water was gone by the time he reached the city.

He stayed in a compound that held fewer than 100 people, mostly men inside. He felt safe and would go outside to purchase food and water. He remained there for about two or three weeks before traveling to the border with Libya, staying in a common transit point, the city of Debdeb. He stayed there for two months working in construction. It was a bit insecure. He heard about people getting robbed at night, although luckily he never was.

Mustapha crossed the Sahara desert for five hours on foot, because vehicles were too visible to authorities, putting him at risk of capture. He had a guide to the border and was transferred to a pickup truck that took about 10 people onward. They stopped at Ghadames, then Zintan, then Tarhuna, Libya. There was one night in Bani Waled, Libya, and for one night in a compound in another unnamed city halfway between Bani Waled and Tripoli, Libya.

In total, he spent about one year in Tripoli. Three or 4 months were at a seaside camp before he attempted his first sea crossing. That was intercepted and attacked, and brought back to shore. There was a connection point in a forest and two of his friends were caught–kidnapped for work by some local or another. Eventually they escaped.

It was another month before he returned to the connection point again, in Tajoura, Libya, where people would be sorted for loading onto the boats to cross the sea. He was caught this time and was not able to escape. He was held for two weeks, then was moved to Sahar El Din* prison in the Zawiya district west of Tripoli.

Mustapha was held at Sahar El Din with more than 350 people for about six months. They were all gathered in a big hall. They were fed once a day, a small bowl of rice or pasta. The water was unclean, salty, from the tap. Some people died in that prison. Some people got sick. Some people got shot.

“They shoot them in front of you so you are scared,” Mustapha said.

His friend was shot for trying to escape. But Mustapha remained. He was too young and scared. There was a window people used to escape, but for him it was too high off the ground to reach. He tried for it three times but it was too hard. He was threatened with deportation to Gambia. Instead, he was later brought to Sabha, Libya, another common connection city after the Sahara.

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He was held there for two or three weeks, close to a month, he said. He ate once a day. Even women were starved. One woman saw her baby die in that prison. She was malnourished to the point she couldn’t feed her baby; and the baby was so weak she had to leave it behind to die. “I felt so sad when I saw her,” said Mustapha.

In prison in Sabha he met another Gambian man who offered him a bit of work on a contract. He then returned to Tripoli, staying for one additional month in various connection houses. He moved to Sabratha to attempt the crossing again.

Mustapha crossed the Mediterranean Sea in a rubber dinghy at midnight on 4 November 2016 with 115-120 people, including women, some of whom were pregnant, and children. “That day was Friday,” he said. He was out at sea for more than 12 hours before he was rescued by a Spanish ship at 1:00pm, “I’ll never forget that time,” said Mustapha.

He spend two days on board before landing in Lampedusa, Italy on 7 November 2016.

He is 23 years of age now and living in Ter Apel, Netherlands, where we recorded this story on 3 March 2022.

Mustapha is an amazing human being.

*Name unverified