"Now, as organisations are stretched beyond their limits as they try to cope with the increase of people arriving on a daily basis, this vulnerable population is more at risk. Reduced access to water, sanitation, shelter and healthcare puts them at a high risk of communicable and preventable diseases. Action needs to happen now, before the situation deteriorates even further.” Voices from the Field - 8 Jul 2015

Mediterranean migration

Testimonies from the Bourbon Argos

Testimonies from the Bourbon Argos, the MSF search-and-rescue ship. Voices from the Field - 7 Jul 2015

Not wanting to worry his family, 20-year-old Fresghy left Eritrea without telling anyone. More than a year later he found himself imprisoned in Libya. His only chance of release was if his relatives could raise the money to pay off his captors.

“I migrated from my country because there are too many problems. My family has no work and no salary – things are impossible. The only solution was to leave. I decided to do it by myself, without telling anybody.

When I reached a refugee camp in Ethiopia, I called my relatives and they told my parents where I was and not to worry about me. This was 18 months ago.

I spent two months in Ethiopia before heading to Sudan. I decided to work in Khartoum so I could send money to my family. I spent more than a year there. Sudan is not a peaceful nation, but there is the chance of work sometimes.

There are a lot of Eritreans in Khartoum, especially from poor families. They know that in order to go to Libya and cross the Mediterranean Sea, they need money, so they stop in Khartoum to work. They know that if you go to Libya without money you will probably die.

I didn’t want to live in Khartoum because it is not possible to save money there. All you earn goes into rent and food. I couldn’t support my family from there.

So I went to Libya. I didn’t tell my parents I was going because they would have opposed me.

We went from Sudan to Libya in small containers, open at the back. The people were compressed in these containers, 30 to 40 people in each one. Many people fell off, but they didn’t get any help. They were left to die in the desert. Nobody can help you because no one knows where you are. Only the driver knows, but he says, “Leave him. Those who fall down must be left behind”.

I called my family when I was in Libya and asked my relatives if they could help me pay for the voyage to Europe. I had to do that because I was taken by Libyan people. They robbed me and I had no choice but to call my relatives.

People in Libya are unkind. They argue all the time and they animalise people. They put me in a closed compound. It was very hot. There was no air supply, no facilities, and if you were sick, nobody gave you medicine because nobody cared about you. They care only about money, not about the life of the man.

Many women who were with us were raped.

When we called our relatives on the telephone, we told them what Libya was like and asked them to please hurry up getting the money, otherwise they would kill us. Libyans want to scare us, and we automatically scare our parents.

For rich ones there is no problem. But for ones like me and my parents, it takes many months to gather the money.

Once my family had paid, they put me into a boat with 550 other people. It was very unsafe. There were too many people on it. I was on top of the boat, but down below it was very hot and people started having problems breathing.

Everybody felt afraid because the boat was not safe. They didn’t give us any life jackets, and I don’t know how to swim. If any problem had occurred, I would have had no choice but to die.

I have many friends and relatives who came to Europe before me. I knew how dangerous the travel is – they had told me on Facebook and Messenger. But I had no choice. In Sudan there is no peace. In Ethiopia there is no peace. In Libya there is no government. We decide to cross very hard countries and be transferred in an unsafe boat, but this is the only choice we have: to cross the sea by the help of God.

The only thing you are thinking about is how to help your family and how to get to a peaceful place where you can live by working.

My dream is to be able to provide for my family so that they will not be poor anymore.

ENDS

Mediterranean migration

Testimonies from the MY Phoenix

Testimonies from migrants rescued by the search and rescue ship, MY Phoenix Voices from the Field - 7 Jul 2015

Women queue for safe drinking water once the water system was repaired.

South Sudan

Staff return to Melut to find water system blocked and main water tanks riddled with bullets

Paul Jawor, MSF’s water and sanitation technical adviser shares his findings Voices from the Field - 29 Jun 2015

Kenya

Dadaab refugees - a plea for dignity

"People in Dadaab remain nearly 100 percent dependent on humanitarian aid. (..) Now is the time to make some tough choices and define some permanent solutions." An op-ed by Charles Gaudry, Head of Mission for MSF, Kenya Voices from the Field - 23 Jun 2015

A woman holds a packet of pills at an activist meeting in Soshanguve, a township outside of Pretoria on April 16, 2015.

South Africa

Drug shortages - testimonies from patients and medical staff

"When I arrived at my clinic, I was told that my treatment was not in stock and sent home with no medicine." Voices from the Field - 11 Jun 2015

Measles is almost endemic in Katanga. A significant increase in the number of cases was recorded in early March 2015, mainly in the Malemba Nkulu health zone.

Democratic Republic of Congo

DRC: Measles in Katanga - "We’re facing a genuine epidemic emergency."

Interview with Dr Louis Albert Massing about the worst measles epidemic in Katanga since 2011. Voices from the Field - 10 Jun 2015

Niger

“They need somewhere to settle in peace to regain their dignity”

Interview with Aissami Abdou, MSF field coordinator in Diffa, Niger Voices from the Field - 9 Jun 2015

Côte d'Ivoire

Strengthening maternity care in Katiola

"Around half of babies continue to be born at home in this region of Côte d’Ivoire and, when there are complications, the distance to health facilities poses a real problem for the health of both mother and baby." Voices from the Field - 9 Jun 2015

South Sudan

A nurse in Old Fangak

Nurse Jillian Loveland on her second mission with MSF in Old Fangak, South Sudan. Voices from the Field - 1 Jun 2015

Four mothers posing in a corridor of the Hospital in Bili. All four of them are staying in the hospital with their child, that's suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the pediatric ward already treated more than 4.000 cases of complicated/severe form of malaria.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Independent medical humanitarian assistance

We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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Services in Nyarugusu refugee camp ‘stretched beyond their limits’