June 20 is World Refugee Day and, in some countries such as the UK, June 16th to 22nd is International Refugee Week. This is a recognition of the unimaginable hardships faced by refugees and a celebration of their strength, resilience, and hope for the future. Our crew has witnessed firsthand the suffering of refugees and migrants. Their migratory journeys are often years long; by the time people are rescued by our ship, the Ocean Viking, they have often endured violence, human trafficking, imprisonment, slavery, and sexual violence. No one leaves home unless staying is more dangerous than the journey ahead.
It’s one thing for adults to undertake this dangerous journey. For children, it’s even more treacherous. Read on to hear from six young survivors rescued by SOS MEDITERRANEE.
Since 2016, SOS MEDITERRANEE has rescued more than 10,300 children. This includes 656 children under the age of five. Nearly 80% of children rescued are traveling alone, fleeing war, poverty, and exploitation. Imagine being a child and having to choose: stay in an unbearable situation or risk your life to cross the sea, not knowing what you’ll find on the other side.The impact on these young lives is profound:
- Physical danger: Crossing the sea is treacherous. Overcrowded, unseaworthy boats, exposure to scorching sun, storms, and icy wind, and lack of food and water are just some of the immediate dangers. Many children do not survive the journey.
- Psychological Trauma: Many children have witnessed violence or suffered abuse before even reaching the sea. The journey across the Mediterranean exacerbates existing trauma, and many arrive with both significant mental and physical health needs.
- Exploitation and Trafficking: Unaccompanied minors are especially vulnerable to human trafficking and sexual exploitation, both en route and upon arrival in Europe.
- Detention and Uncertainty: Even after rescue, children often face long waits in detention or reception centers, where conditions vary widely. Legal limbo can extend for months or even years.
Johanna de Tessieres / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ali, age 8
Imagine being just eight years old, leaving everything and everyone you’ve ever known, and crossing thousands of kilometers of desert—without any adults. This is reality for Ali, who was rescued by the Ocean Viking on March 14, 2024, with 87 other people.
“In my country, I used to go to school. About a year ago, I left Mali with another boy whom I lost track of when I arrived in Libya. I went through Algeria before arriving in Libya. I walked in the desert for about a month with my friend. On the way, I worked. I did welding and painting. In Libya, I slept in the street in Sabratha. I was often beaten up because I’m Black. I heard that people were crossing the Mediterranean to escape Libya, so I decided to do the same. I was scared. I had no money to go outside, to eat. Two adults helped me escape.”
*Name changed to protect privacy
Photo by Johanna de Tessières
Sabtou, age 15
Trigger warning: This text describes acts of torture.
“I left Somalia at 12, by myself, because there are just too many problems in my country. There are no schools, no hospitals, my family has no means to survive.”
When Sabtou arrived in Libya at age 12, he was kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured for ransom. “Every morning, they beat us. Look at my arms, my scars—they used melted plastic and heated metal bars.” He stayed a year and five months in one detention centre with only dried pasta once a day as food.
“I suffered too much in the past 3 years, too much. I want everyone to know what is happening in Libya.
My dream now is to find a job to send some money to my mum for her to live with dignity.”
*Name changed to protect privacy
Photo by Flavio Gasperini
Yussif, age 17
Yussif* was rescued by the Ocean Viking in February 2020, at the age of 17. “Sometimes, the terrorists would arrive in our village, and we would not be able to get out of our house for as long as they stayed there.”
Yussif was kidnapped and taken to Libya, where he was imprisoned for months and was beaten every day. After finally escaping, he was subsequently forced into slavery.
“Maybe one day I will be a rescuer. I would like that. In Somalia, I was thinking of working in computer engineering […] but now, maybe I will discover other things to do. I want to learn everything I can.”
*Name changed to protect privacy
Photo by Anthony Jean
Neba, 16
Neba* left his home country, Cameroon, when he was 13 years old. He was rescued on the night of 27 December 2022, from an overcrowded wooden boat with 112 other people.
“I left my country [in 2019] and I spent three years in Libya, the “hell on earth”. I am the eldest son in my family, and my parents are miserable; they work all day and night, [and still] my two sisters could barely eat. I had to try my best to help them; it’s my duty.
I was kidnapped when I arrived in Libya and saw terrible things. I tried to flee this violence three times [by the sea], but twice I have been taken back by Libyans. They sold me once ashore, and I was sent back to prison. The first two times I tried to cross the sea, it was in wooden boats. The third time, I could only afford a rubber boat: it’s cheaper. I realized that no matter what kind of boats they give us, you can die at any moment anyway. The wooden boats, when they capsize, they trap everyone under the boat, and you drown immediately; it doesn’t make much of a difference with the rubber boats. They are all dangerous.”
*Name changed to protect privacy
Photo by Michael Bunel
Johanna de Tessières
Ibrahima*, age 14
Trigger warning: This testimony includes mentions of violence.
Ibhrahima, 14, is from The Gambia and was rescued on 14 March 2024 after spending seven days adrift at sea. Sixty people on his boat died.
“I left my country after the death of my parents. I lost my dad in 2014 [when Ibrahima was 4] and my mum in 2021 [when Ibrahima was 11]. Before I went to school, but then I had no one to help me.” He decided to try and go to Europe, in order to support his sister.
“Many people around me didn’t have enough food to eat. I travelled to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, I crossed the desert into Niger, and then I arrived in Libya. I spent two months crossing the desert. I was lacking water; I was drinking mixtures of oil and water.”
Once in Libya, he worked as a car washer: “Libya is very sad. There, I was beaten by the mafia; they broke my leg.”
“When I saw the Ocean Viking, I cried. I thought ‘thank God’. We were suffering. We had no food, no water.”
*Name changed to protect privacy
Photo by Johanna de Tessières
Camille Martin / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Alex, age 17
Alex was rescued from an overcrowded wooden boat on 30 July, 2024.
When he was 15, Alex* fled the war-torn city of Bor in South Sudan alone. “When the war started, it destroyed everything, even my family. I don’t know where my family is […] We’ve been suffering here because our country is at war. We don’t have work. We don’t have anything.”
He went to Sudan and then, when war broke out in Sudan, crossed the desert to Libya. He was imprisoned and beaten.
“In life there are two things. Either you win, [or] you lose. You lose, you die. You win, you make a bright future.” It was Alex’s yearning for a bright future that led him to risk crossing the Mediterranean.
To learn more about his experience, listen to Alex’s story here.
*Name changed to protect privacy
Photo by Camille Martin Juan
