The terrible journey of migrants described in 800 words: the unpredictable Mediterranean Sea and the unlimited and lonely Sahara Desert.

Wars, dictatorships, persecutions and lack of economical opportunities are the major factors which involve migrants to  flow. Most of migrants come from Africa but recently there have been migrations also from the Middle East due to the war.

In Africa there are mostly 3 possible routes to reach Europe and they all cross the Sahara Desert: the Western route, the Central route and the Eastern route.

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The Western route begins in Bamako (Mali), where people who come from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Liberia get together and then they wait for the van which will transport them through Algeria and Libya to reach Tripoli town.

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The Central route begins in south-west Africa especially in Ghana where people reach Tripoli passing through Burkina Faso and Niger and following a different way rather than the Western route.

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The Eastern route starts in Somalia continuing through Etiopia and Sudan to reach the city of Bengasi on the coasts of Libya.

Every journey through the desert can last from several days up to some months. People of all kind of gender try to escape from their country counting on finding a better future and they are ready to stand everything to realize their dreams. They prefer to risk their lives rather than staying in their own country where they know they are going to die soon.

Behind the migration routes there is a real lucrative business because smugglers ask for a high amount of money to move people from a place to another. The sum is from 500$ up to 2500$ per person for a section of the journey in the desert, however it depends on where they want to leave from. They travel in a 4-wheel truck taking more than 30 people: it is very dangerous and they risk to fall down if they do not hold themselves, usually with a walking stick.

Migrants usually travel in the night and, unfortunately, some of them managed to survive and some die because of the extreme heat, hunger, thirst and exhaustion. They are obliged to travel in very bad conditions and bad hygiene and some of them are left behind by the smugglers.

When they make some stops and wait for other people in the middle of the desert, they camp under a sort of tent to prevent the extreme heat and they drink everything possible, even their own urine and they try to cook the only edible food they have and probably it will be the only meal for days.

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They restart their journey and they reach Tripoli or Bengasi. In these two cities militias kidnap migrants and they put them in farm-cages where they are obliged to work, as if they are in a lager, and they must ask their families for other money if they want to continue the journey. Otherwise, migrants are closed in prisons where men and women are divided and militaries and militias do every sort of violence and deprivation of human rights. Girls and women are raped almost once and someone can get pregnant or give birth during the journey. Then men are tortured and punched also with chains without a real reason. According to the militias, migrants are no longer people. This will leave both psychologically and physically mark of the cruelty and of all that they are obliged to endure. Here in Tripoli and Bengasi migrants may be killed, sent back to their own country or continue the journey across the sea.

Once arrived on the beach, they pay the boat from 625$ up to 2000$ per person. This boat is usually a precarious rubber dinghy and it is overloaded, there are more people than the number it can stand, about 500 people. Moreover, smugglers provide just the useful fuel to reach the 12 miles from Libyan coasts established by the international law. During the sea crossing people are always afraid of sinking and some of them may get seasick or even faint.

Even if they are told that the boat is good and safe and that the Mediterranean crossing will be alright, they know the journey is not out of danger at all and every minute they risk their lives. They also know that there is only a little percentage to survive at this long and difficult journey.

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When the fuel finishes, they remain in the middle of the sea and they have to pay attention of not moving too much or standing up because the boat may overturn and so they can drown because most of them cannot swim. So it is important to wait for the rescuers, for example the Italian Croce Rossa, the ONG (Médicins sans Frontières) and the Coast Guard.

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They arrive in Italy, in particular on the coasts of Sicily, Malta and Lampedusa where they receive any kind of humanitarian and medical help, they are feed and then they are divided into categories on the base of the reasons why they are escaped. They ask for political Asylum, so that they ask to the country where they have arrived to protect them. However not all of them receive it because they do not escape from a country destroyed by poverty, war or economical problems, such as Morocco or Tunisia, and this people is sent back to their country, if not they escape becoming illegal.

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To sum up, we can say that their journey is like a nightmare and we should help them, welcoming them and giving a new home and a new happy future. Sending them back means to bring them to death.