Meet Mahamed

In Rome, Italy; 2 November 2018. ©Pamela Kerpius

Mahamed (Gambia) in Rome, Italy. 2 November 2018. ©Pamela Kerpius/Migrants of the Mediterranean

by:
Pamela Kerpius

Recorded:
2 November 2018

Published:
November 2018

Revised:
1/11/25

Meet Mahamed.

20 years old and from Gambia.

To reach Italy he crossed six countries: The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the most dangerous of all, Libya.

His journey took eight months.

After arriving in Agadez, Niger, he crossed the Sahara desert in the back of a pickup truck with around 35-37 people, including one woman, and an unspecified number of children.

His first stop after crossing the desert was Gatrone, Libya, where he stayed for just two hours before leaving for Sabha, Libya. In Sabha, he remained for only three days, then left further north for Tripoli.

Mahamed lived in a compound in Tripoli with more than 100 people. He would work during the day to afford food. But sometime after, he was captured and taken to prison, a period that may have only lasted two weeks, but was defined by deep trauma. 

He was beaten daily. “Everyday they come and beat you for nothing,” he said.

Everyday they come and beat you for nothing

He endured the abuse while his traffickers demanded his family in The Gambia send money for his release. A typical day’s meal would include a small bottle of water, a cup of juice, and a piece of cake or pastry that would arrive on a plate to be shared among 6-10 people. 

Sometimes the small boys (young Libyan boys with guns) and traffickers would enter the prison with automatic weapons and shoot indiscriminately, just to startle the imprisoned people. Luckily, n the end, his family was able to send sufficient funds for his release. He stayed in Tripoli awhile longer working as a baker for an Egyptian man, then left for the coastal camp, Sabratha.

He was there for exactly one months and two weeks, a number that “will be in my mind forever,” said Mahamed.

He stayed at the seaside under a tarp, something like a tent, but not enclosed and he was mostly exposed to the elements.

Mahamed crossed the Mediterranean Sea in a rubber dinghy with 110 people including one woman who was pregnant. They were out at sea for two days, drifting, after the traffickers returned to remove the motor once they got far enough away from the coastline. It would be used for the next rubber raft they’d push from shore.

Mahamed and the other passengers had no compass onboard, but a few Sudanese passengers had a GPS phone and that enabled their eventual rescue. He was rescued, transferred to the Guardia Costiera, and landed in Crotone, Italy, on 7 November 2016.

Mahamed is an amazing human being.