In Malta, Dayo has been waiting in a closed detention centre for seven months, while the authorities go through his case. With another five months to go, he shares his tent with 98 people. 'Everyone is tired with the detention period, so everything that someone says or does gets you angry' he says.
Shocking statistics
Over the last 10 years, more than 12.000 immigrants reached Malta by boat. Only 90 could settle in Europe legally. Besides the large numbers of people reaching Europe, the number of casualties is also high. United for Intercultural Action, a European network that supports migrants and refugees, has counted fatal accidents since 1988: more than 14.000 migrants died on their journey to Europe, of which 71 percent drowned. For a shocking visualisation of all casualities per country, go here.
A 'journey through hell' or a risk worth taking?
For many Africans, Yemen, a country at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, is the first stop. In the documentary Journey through hell, an undercover reporter manages to get on a 30 feet boat that carries 128 passengers from Somalia to Yemen. The journey takes three days, and the people on board cannot move, rarely eat or drink, and are beaten up and threatened by their traffickers. One of the travellers in the documentary explains why he is willing to undergo these horrible conditions: 'We all love our country and we all love our family, but we don’t have any choice. We have all seen our brothers and sisters die at sea, but in spite of that, we want to cross it.' Ferhan, who now lives in an open centre in Malta, acknowledges that coming to Europe was all but easy, but he is happy he made it. 'At least we are in peace here, we feel at rest.'
We are interested in journey stories, did you risk your life to reach Europe? Do you think it was worth it? Tell your story here
