‘No mama, no papa. All alone’: The 11-year-old Eritrean boy who has left his family behind to join thousands of migrants heading to Lampedusa
Tanjin from Eritrea is among 2,000 to land on the Island in the last five days He left his family behind and faces military conscription if he is sent back Around 300 migrants are thought to have
- Tanjin from Eritrea is among 2,000 to land on the Island in the last five days
- He left his family behind and faces military conscription if he is sent back
- Around 300 migrants are thought to have drowned on their way from Libya
- 170,000 migrants from Asia and Africa landed on the Italian island in 2014
- Trend since start of the year suggests that figure will be surpassed in 2015
The smile on 11-year-old Tanjin’s face as he plays football on the tiny island of Lampedusa hides the life-threatening journey he took to get there.
He is one of 2,000 asylum seekers to land on Italy’s southern port since last weekend – having risked their lives crossing the rough Mediterranean waters on smuggling boats.
The Eritrean boy left his family behind and if he is sent back too, he faces being conscripted into the country’s military.
For that reason, the boy is likely to remain in Europe where he will continue his education.
He will now be transferred to a reception centre on the mainland that specialises in dealing with minors who reach the country alone.
Several children did not survive the trip. As many as 300 migrants are thought to have drowned on the rough Mediterranean waters after being ordered to get on flimsy rubber dinghies from Libya.
While Tanjin worked on his dribbling, Somali teenager Abdenajib was calling worried relatives back home.
‘I am saying that I’m in Italy now, it’s good. They see, I am saying that I haven’t died,’ he said after the conversation with his mother and sister who occupy a refugee camp in Kenya.
Abdenajib acknowledges how lucky he was to survive a day and a half at sea – just days after 29 migrants had perished from exposure.
And speaking through the chain-link fence at Lampedusa’s migrant reception centre, the 15-year-old revealed his dream was to become a doctor.
He said: ‘I want help, I want to learn and education. I want to go to Norway.’
His journey began in Kenya, from where he travelled through Uganda and Sudan before finally reaching the Libyan capital Tripoli. There, he handed over £700 to smugglers for the boat trip to Italy.
Most of the migrants on Lampedusa – including Adam from Mali – were rescued by the Italian coastguard or by merchant ships.
He said: ‘We were in the first boat and that’s why we didn’t have problems because Italians took us in when the waves started coming towards us.
‘As for me, I need Italian citizenship. Here, we are all tired. Since I left the north of Mali until now, there have been issues.’
The sudden surge in arrivals has stretched the island’s reception facilities to breaking point as the centre struggles to deal with three times the number of migrants it was designed to.
More than 170,000 migrants from the Africa, the Middle East and South Asia landed in Italy last year and the trend since the start of the year suggests that number will be surpassed in 2015.
Amnesty International said the European Union’s limited coastal patrol operation off Italy was desperately ill-equipped to cope with the soaring numbers.
Its spokesperson said: ‘Unless the void of Italy’s now defunct lifesaving Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation is filled, refugees and migrants will continue to die in great numbers at sea.’
AHMED SALEH !!! February 21, 2015
Eleven years old by himself to cross a sea which become cemetery
ground for many people ? Somebody must held responsibility .
If it is true , I blame to those who let him go through this deadly
journey . Eventhough Thanks God he survived to reach the destination
but that doesn’t make a sense at all .
tamrat tamrat February 22, 2015
When you are young you are more terrified witnessing fear in ababa and emama than what realy going on around you. When I was elementary school there was one particular military brass band music plaid and followed by horrible news which terrified my families. Since this music started evrything everyone had changed. 60 leaders killed, when we came back home from church we saw many soldiers searching our house, people with uniform without uniform carry weapons and kill, on the way school I saw dead people with blood everywhere around them, the priest was telling us the signs when yesus is coming back.
The most terrifying day of my life was that after a weak or two of the house to bouse search my father and uncle was arguing whether aman andom micheal one of the derg president was among the 60 who were mass murdered by derg. When the argument got out of hand I said he was part of it. My father said how did you know. I said I have it on the tape. Every time I listened that music I started to record. They both shouted on me. are you out of your mind. You want all of us get killed. Bring the tape…. they were tapes. I gave all. Upto now I remembered thier fear. And I remember on the tape aman andom was 58th on that tep. That was the most reason I hate derg and that was the reason people started the mass exodus.
Hail soura February 22, 2015
ብወገነይ መስከረም ኒት አየንብባን አየ። ምስሊ ኢሳያስ አመለኻኽታ ኢሳያስን ዘዋፍሩ ሰባት ብዙሓት አብቲ ናይ መስከረም ቤት ሻሂ ኢዮም ዝርከቡ። መብዛሕቶም ስራሕ ዘየብሎም ክኾኑ ይኽእሉ ኢዮም ካብቲ ክስኩዕዎ ዝውዕሉ ቃላትን አርእስትን ክርዳእ ከለኹ። እዚ ግን ውልቃዊ ርእይቶይ ኢዩ። ሓያል ስራሕ ዘለዎ ሰብ አብ ምልቃብ ዘረባን ምጥምዛዝ ነገራት ንኽውዕል ግዜ የብሉን።
ሪዲዮ ኤረና ግን ትህቦ ሓበሬታ ጽቡቐ ኮይኑ ብዙሓት ሰማዕትውን አለዋ። ግን አብ ገለ ነገራት ክትረኣ ከላ ንነብሳ ዘይነጸረላ፤ ወይውን ኮነ ኢላ ትገብሮ ነገር አለ። ብኣብነት መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ትብል አብ ኤርትራ ግን መንግስቲ የለን። ምልኪ ኢዩ ዘሎ። መልካዊ ስርዓት። እቲ ካልእ ድማ ፕሬዝደንት ኢሳያስ ትብል ቃል ትጥቀም፤ ህዝቢ አይመረጾን፤ መልካዊ ኢየ፤ ናይ ወጻኢ ማዕከናት ከይተረፋ ን24 ዓመት ብሓይሊ ዝግዝእ ዘሎ ይብልኦ። እቲ ካልእ ድማ ሪዲዮ ኤሪና አብ መንግስቲ ኢትዮጽያ ዘለዋ አቀራርባ። ንአብነት ምስ አምባሳደር ኢትዮጵያ አብ ሽወደን ዝተገብረ ጽቡቕ እኳ እንተኾነ እቲ ሕቶ አብ ኢትዮጵያ ብዛዕባ ዘሎ ሓይሊ ኤለትሪክ ሕጽረት መበገሲኡ ጠንቁ….ወዘተ ዝብል ፍጽም ብዛዕባ ኤርትራ ምስ ዘተኩር ጋዜጠኛ ዘይከይድ እካ ድኣ ነቲ አብ ኤርትራ ዘሎ ጸልማት ስኣን ሓይሊ ኤለትክ ቅቡል ንምግባር ዝተሓተ ይመስል።
ሪዲዩ ኤሪና ብዙሕ ጸጋታት አለዋ። ጸጋ ገንዘብ በዚ ተበጊሳ መገሻ ናብ ሱዳን ስደተኛታት ካምፕ፤ ዮጵያ ስደተኛታት ካምፕ ከይዳ ሓያለ ስርሓት ምሰርሓት ኒራ። ቃለ መሕትት ምስ ሙራት ኤርትራውያን፤ ግዳያት ስርዓት ኢሳያስ፡ ብልሽውና አብ ኤርትራ፤ እቶም ቀንዲ ነገራት፤ ንሳ ግን አብ ሙዚቃ ክትሓጽረና ኢያ ተሳሲ። ሙዚቃ አድላይ ኢዩ ግን ቀዳምነታትናን ቀዳምነት መወልትን አይተሳነየን።
ጋዜጠኛ ቢንያም ካብቲ ስርዓት አፍ ንስክላ ዝሃደመ ሰብ ኢዩ። ኩሉውን ጠነቂቑ ዝፈልጥ ኢዩ። ነዚ ጉዳይ ከስተባህለሉ ይምሕጸን። ናይ መወልቲ ዓላማን ቀዳምነታትን ከነጽረልና ድማ ጻውዒተይ የቕርበሉ።
Semhar February 22, 2015
It’s time to dismantle the dictators!
That’s the only solution! It’s easier to dismantle few dictators than to let millions to suffer.
It’s time for UN to require nations to be governed by international constitution. A law that protect humanity. All nations
vanity rules February 22, 2015
we have toremmember 11 year old is not very young when we think opf fit-werari fighters with our gedli, there were fighters as young as nine years old ,ofcourse we should feel sorrow for the eleven year old (young man by eritrean standard)..but young people of his age have fought against ethiopian invasion for the last 50 years .I wish he had gone to meida to fight pjdj.pfdj is not going to be toppled by itself ,we have enough people here in abroad ,we need young fighters 9 years old and over.
tamrat tamrat February 22, 2015
Are you 4 years old or what?
oromay February 23, 2015
Oh,my goodness, hard to imagine 11 years old boy crossing hostile and unknown lands, through risky routes along with beasts! The gravity of the matter is beyond description!
Machie February 23, 2015
OK so how weak are Eritreans? Seriously…how can this happen continuously. I am really ashamed and feel sad and desperate. What a travesty. This has a very serious consequence for the future of the country. We can kiss Eritrea goodbye. So far I was hopeful that there would be something to salvage after the dictator is gone, but nowadays I am not even sure if we will ever find a country to call home. Allas…sobbing
selamawit2 February 23, 2015
“vanity rules” aka “cow face”,
where was your son when he was 11 years old – and even much younger?
everybody who know your comments on asmarino.com knows he was not doing better than this boy. i am heartfelt sorry for both kids.
but you should save your son, your family or at least your self before pointing at others.
diversionary tactic won’t hill you & associated!!!
(People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.)
Jura February 23, 2015
We see the shame of Ghedli and Eritrea in the face of this innocent child. This is the shame of the lies of the Ghedli narrative concocted in Cairo long ago, also known as Sewra.
Jura February 23, 2015
Vanity rules wrote a very true but sad irony.
vanity rules on February 22, 2015 at 9:33 pm said:
we have toremmember 11 year old is not very young when we think opf fit-werari fighters with our gedli, there were fighters as young as nine years old ,ofcourse we should feel sorrow for the eleven year old (young man by eritrean standard)..but young people of his age have fought against ethiopian invasion for the last 50 years .I wish he had gone to meida to fight pjdj.pfdj is not going to be toppled by itself ,we have enough people here in abroad ,we need young fighters 9 years old and over.
tamrat tamrat February 23, 2015
Any body who use 9 years old as fodder never do good for the mass. If there is a need for arm struggle what about you? Are you 4 years old who give priority for 11 years old or you keep your arms and legs for the future pfdj?