Meet Ousman

Meet Ousman.

19 years old and from Serekunda, Gambia.

To reach Lampedusa he crossed eight countries: The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the most dangerous of all, Libya.

In total his journey took over three years, where he zig-zagged across West Africa before being funneled along the established trafficking route from Niger to Libya and the sea.

His first stop was Guinea-Bissau, where he worked for two years and six months chopping trees in a forest for fire wood. Seeking a new work opportunity, he left Guinea-Bissau and moved to Mauritania, to the north, where he stayed for four months working. A search for new work, put him on the road again, bringing him through Bamako, Mali, where he stopped for two days, then onward through neighboring Burkina Faso.

His journey took him next to Niger, where he briefly stopped in the capital city, Niamey, then next to Agadez, Niger, where he stayed for two weeks until it was time to depart for the desert.

Ousman crossed the Sahara desert in the back of a pickup truck with 28 people, a trip that took four days. He had five liters of water. He saw skeletons of the dead and dead bodies. It was a frightening scene also mixed with extreme discomfort. In spite of the immense heat during the day, when night would fall, he was cold and without cover.

His first stop after the desert was Baye*, Libya, for a one night stopover before continuing on to Gatrone, Libya. He was pit-stopped in the city for nine months, working to be able to afford the next part of his journey. The city was unsafe as an outsider, and payment from his employer unstable; the pay rate would vary depending on what the man decided from day to day. His mood would determine if Ousman’s salary was five dinars or 15, or maybe nothing at all.

From Gatrone, Ousman traveled by covered car, obscured from sight, stopping in Delgar* for two days before arriving in Sabha, Libya. The compound, or connection house, in Sabha had over 100 people smuggled inside.

Ousman stayed for an unknown period of time before transferring (again in a covered car) to an unknown city, where he rested for three days. The car ride was not easy on his body, being cramped with more than 60 people stacked inside, each right on top of the other.

There were many transfer points for Ousman within Libya, the estimate for which he put at about 12. At each one, a new driver would be paid for taking the passengers. Meaning, Ousman’s group was sold, as if cargo, to a new trafficker at each leg of the journey.