by
Pamela Kerpius

Recorded:
7 May 2021

Published:
24 June 2021

Meet Wisdom.

20 years old and from Nigeria.

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

His journey took about a year and a half, leaving on 15 September 2015 in a taxi with six people. He transferred to a bus in Kano, Nigeria with around fifty people onboard, then arrived at noon the next day to his next bus transfer.

He took the bus to Agadez, Niger, where he stayed for about four or 5 months hidden in a compound with more than 200 people. There were women and children, and everyone merely took a small mat to the floor to sleep at night in one big room.

He took pasta, rice or garri to eat, and had access only to impure tap water to drink. It was salty and made his stomach sick. He managed the sour stomach okay at first, but later in his journey he would encounter complications.

Wisdom crossed the Sahara desert in the back of a pickup truck with 30 people, including 4 women and 4 children, in a trip that would take one week. His truck was one among seven total in a caravan to reach Libya.

He kept a single canteen of water on his person, plus a small bottle of water he placed in a bag. He refilled the containers along the way, often only with dirty well water. The well smelled bad. He heard someone had died and their body was thrown inside. But it was the only water source available so he had no choice but to drink it.

“We gotta stick together to protect each other,” Wisdom said. Everyone in the truck stayed together as a group, even when they would encounter checkpoints where they’d be beaten and robbed. Control at the checkpoints would steal their money, phones if they had them, and anything else of value. Everyone in his truck survived.

He arrived in Gadron*, Libya and stayed for about one week in a compound before transferring to Sabha.

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Wisdom remained in Sabha, Libya for about six months in a converted factory space that held more than 2,000 people. He said it was a lot like being packed in the boat on the sea: everyone was lined up hip to hip, laying on their sides on the floor to sleep at night. Men where kept separate from women, and the women were raped, sold to slavery then raped and beaten more.

He was not allowed to talk and would be beaten too if he broke the rules or stepped out of line. To eat, he would be given a small piece of bread to share among three people. To drink, he took only salty tap water, exacerbating his growing illness.

He was held for ransom and forced to call home for money. He was also sold out to other people in the area for work. There too, he would be held in the employer’s house, beaten, then told to call family for money, but his family didn’t have any. He was forced to work through the night.

Wisdom was kidnapped during this period by a separate person and held as a slave. For six months he had no freedom. He escaped early in the morning, around five or six o’clock through an open window. He just started to walk not knowing where he was headed, until he encountered a man who helped him to safety.

“I would say God sent him,” Wisdom said, about him, who he stayed with over night until he made his next move. There were others in hiding that night with him. Four escaped the next day in a truck to Sabratha, the seaside camp outside Tripoli. He stayed there for four or 5 months.

Again, he remained in an open compound that held around 500 or 600 people, including women and children, who stayed on the opposite side of the shelter. He had scant food to eat, just a piece of bread daily. Maybe a plate of pasta that would be shared among 3-5 other people. He drank unclean, salty tap water.

He escaped one day to go fishing, but quickly left when the water was too rough. When he returned it was not to his original compound, however. He first stopped at a known corner, where people would stand around for work. Employers would stop there and offer day jobs, pick them up, and bring them back when the day was over.

He ended up staying for a whole week, where the owner treated him well. Even if he was stuck inside, he was never beaten or hurt.

He returned to the seaside camp where it was time to push off the shore for Europe. Traffickers started calling off names from a list and everyone made haste to get onboard.

Wisdom crossed the Mediterranean Sea in a rubber dinghy with 120-130 people, including five or 6 women and four or 5 children. He was rescued by an NGO whose name he cannot remember, but said he would recognize a picture of the boat if he saw it. He landed in Lampedusa on 12 April 2017, and for the severely sick stomach he had, was immediately transferred to a hospital in Catania, Sicily.

He is 23 years of age now and living in Frosinone, Italy, where we recorded this story on 7 May 2021.

Wisdom is an amazing human being.

* City name not verified