Biola

Nigeria

“I told them I was going back home. There are some things that money can’t buy.”

Ansoumana

Senegal

"Once I talked to people about what they had lived and witnessed on their journey, I knew it wasn’t worth risking my life for Italy."

Lawali

Niger

“They often say: ‘Ok, so you’ve come to our ghetto to inform us about the dangers of this route, but have you ever tried it yourself?’"

ACHILLE

Cameroon

“They may close the borders, but people always find a way. When you fill up one hole, another one is being dug.”

AMADOU

Senegal

“The truth is you have three options: you drown, you go to prison, or you make it to the other side.”

SEKINAT

Nigeria

“I have never seen anything like it: so many corpses in the desert, skeletons, fresh corpses. I am so grateful that I don’t count myself among the dead.”

SMART

Sierra Leone

“People are dying. I wouldn’t try it again. I said to myself that my life was more precious than Italy.”

Raynold

Jamaica

“I wanted to take my son with me to Jamaica, but I need time to get my life on track first.”

BINTA

Liberia

“After I was smuggled, I felt discouraged. I didn’t have it in me to fight to get to Italy, to be one of those people on the boats.”

OUSMANE

Gambia

“I never thought I would make it out alive. I was supposed to die there. Many people don’t even know I am alive.”

AUGUSTINE

Nigeria

“Education is a powerful tool. If you don’t educate your people, you can never grow as a country.”

SAMBA

Mauritania

“We are responsible for everything that happens to us. They told me not to go, but I went anyway. Man’s biggest problem is man himself.”