Mediterranean Migrants: A Harrowing Journey

We’ve got an influx of students from East Africa at the Coventry Jesus Centre – particularly from Sudan and Eritrea. When they arrive in class with their smiling faces and eagerness to learn, I wonder just what they have been through on the way here.

If we want to travel to East Africa, we go by plane, no doubt:Nairobi or Khatoum International airport. These guys (mainly guys) have come by desert and sea – making a hazardous journey across the Sahara and the Mediterranean. Many of their fellow countrymen set out on the long journey too but never make it to the shores of southern Europe. The recent tragedy of April 27 when 800 died in a single disaster is a grim reminder of that. Indeed, an estimated 1,750 people have died in the Mediterranean since the start of the year - 30 times more than the previous year, reports the International Organisation for Migration.

Don’t be deceived into thinking these are all poor, low-skilled migrants, merely looking for a better life and wages in Europe. They have left all and carry the pain of that; one of our students is a qualified doctor; another is an engineering student.

The chances of dying on the way to Europe are 50-50. Worth the risk? Well then, perhaps you can understand now just how desperate these people are.

The UK government is intent on slowing down migration from the Horn of Africa and destroying the smugglers' vessels of transport.  It is also increasing a limited search-and-rescue programme.Much more can be done to save and better lives.

Two of our students agreed to tell me their story.  You may like to read this and sign a  petition calling on the government to stop the increasing death toll in the Mediterranean and to strengthen search and rescue operations.