Paula Gaess / Resqship
Bari, 20/06/2025 — By the end of 2024, an estimated 123.2 million peoplearound the world were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events severely disrupting public order, according to UNHCR. This marks a 6% increase from the previous year—a worrying trend driven by multiple humanitarian crises, from Gaza to Sudan, forcing people to flee their homes.
For those seeking safety in Europe, the Mediterranean Sea remains the primary migration route—but also one of the deadliest. So far this year , 57,227 people have reached Europe via this dangerous passage, each carrying a different story, but all leaving behind their former lives in the hope of a safer, better future. Yet the sea crossing, the rescue, and the disembarkation in Italy are only chapters of much longer personal journeys—journeys that began in distant homelands and continue today, as these individuals work to rebuild their lives in unfamiliar places, often facing great hardship and uncertainty. These are stories that are rarely told, yet they reveal the resilience, dignity, and strength of those forced to start over from nothing.
And these are also stories that call for solidarity. In a world increasingly marked by division and indifference, solidarity means standing alongside those who have lost everything—not with pity, but with shared responsibility and commitment to building a better, more humane future.
Precious’s story is one of them. A young painter from Nigeria, Precious is among the 42,524 people* assisted by SOS MEDITERRANEE in the Central Mediterranean since 2016. He was saved from the sea two years ago, from a boat that was barely afloat in the waves. But that perilous crossing was only the final stage of a journey that had begun more than four months earlier.
Before reaching Libya, Precious spent 22 harrowing days crossing the desert. “We don’t know what is important in life until you get to point zero, where even a cup of water becomes very, very important to you,” he recalls. “I have never seen death like that,” he adds, reflecting on his ordeal in the desert and the violence he faced in Libya.
*As of 19 June 2025
Yet Precious’s story is not defined by that suffering alone. It is the story of a man who was forced to leave behind a successful life in Nigeria to pursue a better future. Today, he lives in Bari, Southern Italy, the place where he first set foot in Europe, and where he is working hard to rebuild his life—channeling his passion for painting as both a livelihood and a lifeline.“You cannot be an artist with a hungry stomach,” he tells us, “but if that part of me dies [painting], then I don’t have much for living.”
As we mark World Refugee Day, under this year’s theme of solidarity, Precious’s journey is a powerful reminder that behind every rescue is not only a life saved but a future reclaimed. Solidarity means standing together—not as strangers but as a global community that refuses to turn its back on those in need. By supporting the work of organisations like SOS MEDITERRANEE, amplifying refugee voices, and demanding safe pathways for those forced to flee, we can transform solidarity from a word into action.
Because when we stand with refugees, we don’t just help them rebuild their lives—we uphold the values that define us all.
