1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

2
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

3
00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:39,440
HOPE ON THE HORIZON

4
00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,880
All of them have a dream and a hope
to go somewhere…

5
00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:47,040
and to achieve this dream.

6
00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,120
Most of them are young people,
which is very sad.

7
00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:02,280
Before, it was 30, 35-year-olds,

8
00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,720
but now children are coming,
from four to 17 years old.

9
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,600
{\an8}This is a great sadness,
an enormous plague for Eritrea…

10
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:12,320
{\an8}DR. ALGANESH FESSAHA
GANDHI NPO

11
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,240
{\an8}…and for the others too,
because it makes us all powerless.

12
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,880
We don't know what to do anymore.

13
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,200
Ethiopia has always been a welcoming land
towards refugees.

14
00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,160
It's the cradle of humanity

15
00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,160
where they discovered
the first human skeleton.

16
00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,200
{\an8}Today it's known as the land
of Christianity in Africa.

17
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:42,880
{\an8}MONSIGNOR MUSIE GHEBREGHIORGHIS
EPARCH OF EMDIBIR

18
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:49,320
Deacon Phillip baptized the eunuch
of the Queen of Ethiopia

19
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,240
in the year 37 A.D.

20
00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:02,280
When peace is missing, people try to flee

21
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,840
to where they can find peace.

22
00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,000
At this time, around…

23
00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,720
700,000 refugees are in Ethiopia.

24
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,839
They come from Eritrea, from South Sudan,

25
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:25,720
from Somalia, from different nations
surrounding Ethiopia,

26
00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:30,000
and Ethiopia has always been
a welcoming nation.

27
00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,160
TO MAI AINI REFUGEE CAMP

28
00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,240
This is Mai Aini's main entrance,

29
00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:22,600
the second refugee camp,
which has 11,500 refugees.

30
00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,040
In this camp,
we carried out many projects.

31
00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,800
UNHCR gives 15 kg of wheat.

32
00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,360
Sometimes it gives oil, salt and sugar,
but that's rare.

33
00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:47,040
To integrate, refugees create small jobs,

34
00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,560
like opening a restaurant, a café.

35
00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:10,680
All these 11,800 refugees are Eritrean.

36
00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:13,600
They're all Eritrean,
this is an Eritrean camp.

37
00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,000
There are five Eritrean refugee camps
in Ethiopia.

38
00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:18,960
The first is Shimelba,

39
00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,840
the second is Mai Aini,
the third is Mai-tsabri,

40
00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,520
the fourth is Hitsats
and the fifth Endabaguna,

41
00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:31,240
which serves as a sorting camp
for children

42
00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,480
and for those who arrive…

43
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,120
who are then allocated to the other camps.

44
00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,960
They might stay five years, seven years.

45
00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:46,200
It depends on the resettlement,
relocation to a third country.

46
00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,920
They are on a list,
if it comes they'll go.

47
00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,480
They left their family, their parents,

48
00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,920
wife and children, husband and children.

49
00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,880
They left so much,
they left their history.

50
00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:26,000
This is where UNHCR hangs

51
00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,360
all the information on resettlement.

52
00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,280
People come here to read,

53
00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,720
and then they know whether they're called
from UNHCR's office.

54
00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:45,520
Out of these houses,
we built 50 for vulnerable women.

55
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:51,880
When they arrived,
they had been raped and tortured

56
00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,160
and we created these houses for them.

57
00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,800
This way up, there is an Orthodox church.

58
00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,720
Then there's a Catholic church,

59
00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:06,640
and then there's a mosque further down.

60
00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,520
I lived in here for two, three years.

61
00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:46,960
These are the rooms.

62
00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,320
These beds are made
of concrete and terracotta.

63
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,040
Hard, they're definitely good
for your back!

64
00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:59,280
There's a toilet that way.

65
00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,600
This has been my shelter for…

66
00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,360
three, four years I'd say.

67
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:46,200
This is Association Gandhi's headquarter
in Mai Aini camp.

68
00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,960
What is being unloaded now
is food for children.

69
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:58,080
Here, we have more than 850 children
from three to six years old.

70
00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,760
We cook one meal a day for them.

71
00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:04,680
We prepare them before school,

72
00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,120
it's a pre-scholar nourishment.

73
00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,400
Many children have their parents,
others don't,

74
00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,040
some are with their grandma,
their uncles and so on.

75
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:18,920
They are minors, they are little,
some of them unaccompanied.

76
00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,320
We've been here for more than ten years,
nearly 11.

77
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:44,800
AT THE ENDABAGUNA
RECEPTION CENTRE

78
00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,920
These are people who have just arrived.

79
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:56,480
They have nothing,
they look scared, fearful…

80
00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:01,600
because they have walked
for about three days and a half

81
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:05,120
to get to the border and to be accepted.

82
00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:35,720
The youngest child is seven months old.

83
00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,080
The oldest one is four years old,

84
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:43,480
so from seven months old
to four years old.

85
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,360
You can tell from their faces
that they are tired, exhausted,

86
00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,040
but you can also see a burst of hope

87
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,560
that someone might help them

88
00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,680
and understand their suffering.

89
00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:13,440
This one is 12 years old.

90
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:15,880
Eleven years old.

91
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:18,160
Eleven years old.

92
00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:20,400
Fourteen years old.

93
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,960
They had to escape
to evade doing military service.

94
00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,960
They arrived on their own,
without any parents.

95
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:28,200
They escaped.

96
00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:35,240
He says that for most of them,
their families don't know where they are.

97
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,720
He said that they saw him running
to escape.

98
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:41,360
But they don't know where they are.

99
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,240
They are tired and exhausted,

100
00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:47,480
because they've hardly had anything
to eat or drink for two days.

101
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,400
He is six years old,

102
00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,960
he also escaped on his own.

103
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,280
Nearly all of them escaped on their own.

104
00:17:06,839 --> 00:17:08,839
He said that he escaped

105
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:14,000
and his parents,
informed by the farmers who were there,

106
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:16,119
tried to run after him.

107
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:18,960
It took nearly a week before he,

108
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,680
alone, making slow progress,
stopped at the frontier…

109
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,760
in order not to be found by these farmers

110
00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:30,240
who would have sent him back
or given him to the police,

111
00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,560
and the police would have beaten him up.

112
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:36,120
They would have hurt him.

113
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:41,040
I asked him, "What will your family do
now? Will they know where you are?"

114
00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:45,280
And he says,
"I'm sure the military and the farmers

115
00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:49,880
will go and tell my relatives
that I've reached the border."

116
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,200
They all say they want to study.

117
00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:51,880
TO THE CAMP OF UNACCOMPANIED
REFUGEE MINORS

118
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:58,040
In these five camps we have…

119
00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:03,200
In some 7,000 and in others 13,000
or 12,000 people.

120
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:08,440
The sad thing I have noticed lately
in these…

121
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,800
I've been working here in Ethiopia
for nearly 17 years,

122
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,040
for refugee camps and refugees.

123
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,200
But I had never seen children arriving.

124
00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:25,280
For the past three years,
I've been seeing children

125
00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:27,640
from four to 17 years old.

126
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,280
There has been a continuous flow
of youngsters.

127
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,560
And I ask myself,
"Who has remained in Eritrea?"

128
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,480
The other day I met a four-year-old girl,

129
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,440
her name was Dahab.

130
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:43,400
And she told me…

131
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,760
She pulled my dress and said,

132
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:48,880
"Have you seen my mother?"

133
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:50,440
I told her, "No, I haven't seen her."

134
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,680
She said, "Take a picture of me.
Send it to my mum.

135
00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,920
So that she'll see my picture
and will come look after me.

136
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,320
Because without her I can't sleep."

137
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:05,200
A four-year-old girl.

138
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,120
I asked her, "How did you come here?"

139
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,080
She said, "It's me, my brother
and my other brother. We were five.

140
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:18,320
My mother told us three to go ahead
to cross the border.

141
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,640
She remained behind
with the others.

142
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,920
We crossed, but she was arrested."

143
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,440
This girl was looking for her mother.

144
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,160
She was saying, "Please, find my mother,

145
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,320
because I can't sleep."
I asked her, "Where would you like to go?"

146
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,800
"I'd like to go to Europe."
"Why Europe?"

147
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:43,360
"Because I want to study."

148
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:45,880
Four years old.

149
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,400
So if a four year-old comes
and tells me this…

150
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,800
my desolation, sadness and anger increase.

151
00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,480
He is going to show me his room.

152
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,320
One, two, three…

153
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,320
four? Four of them sleep here.

154
00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:40,360
Six. Seven, eight!

155
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,440
Ah! He learned numbers in Italian
in Asmara, in Eritrea.

156
00:21:58,160 --> 00:21:59,080
Hey!

157
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,480
I was born in Eritrea.

158
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:35,680
I am Eritrean.
I was born in Asmara, in a big family.

159
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,240
With a loving father
and an even more loving mother

160
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,720
who taught me the values of life,

161
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:48,240
and I thank them both.

162
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:54,760
They opened for me the road of love,
compassion, giving…

163
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,440
and most of all of love.

164
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:04,680
I studied there, in Asmara,
I went to the pre-university college,

165
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:09,080
then I came to Italy
and went to the Cattolica.

166
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,520
I completed my studies
and then I went to India

167
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,560
to study some ayurvedic medicine.

168
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:21,760
I worked for a big multinational.

169
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:27,000
At one point, during a journey to Sudan,

170
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,200
I met five children.

171
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,440
I'm telling you
how I started this activity.

172
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:39,840
These five children
were five, six, seven, 13 years old.

173
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,120
I saw them sitting on the ground,

174
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:45,440
and I asked them, "What are you doing?"

175
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,120
They didn't answer me,
kept their head down,

176
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:54,600
and ignored me,
they had entered a total mutism.

177
00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:58,560
So I left. I came back the day after…

178
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:01,960
and I saw these five children again.

179
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:06,040
I stopped once again and asked,
"Can I help you?"

180
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:09,880
The oldest, who was about 13,
got up and said,

181
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,440
"No, we don't need any help."

182
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,560
And I asked him, "But how do you live?

183
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,280
Do you have a family?
How did you come here?"

184
00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:26,040
"No, we escaped from Eritrea
because our houses were bombed."

185
00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:28,160
I asked him, "Are you siblings?"

186
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,560
"No, we're not siblings, we met here."

187
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:34,080
"So how do you live?"

188
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,000
And the oldest, who was speaking
on behalf of the others,

189
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,840
said, "Don't worry,
because I'm going to beg

190
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:46,840
in order for them to study."

191
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,040
"How can you do that?"

192
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:55,360
"I can do it. Because I am their father,
and their mother.

193
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,200
Because we have no one left."

194
00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:02,080
That was the spur for me.

195
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,600
"You have nearly everything,
and you're complaining?"

196
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,280
And you see the infinite generosity

197
00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,960
of a 13-year-old kid who is teaching you

198
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:15,640
the values your parents had taught you,

199
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:19,520
that you maybe had forgotten for a while.
"Wake up!"

200
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:25,240
From then,
I started to take care of the children,

201
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:27,720
we built a house for them,

202
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,280
with the support of the Capuchin Friars.

203
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:32,200
We made them study,

204
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,600
they all still live together.

205
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:37,960
They finished the studies they wanted.

206
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,600
One is a dentist,
the other is a carpenter,

207
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,800
the other an electrician.

208
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,960
They formed this big nuclear family

209
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,440
and they help other children like them.

210
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,560
From there, I started another path:

211
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,120
following my people, the Eritreans,

212
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:20,840
anywhere they are.

213
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,280
The Sinai desert, in Egypt,

214
00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:27,000
in Sudan, in Tunisia,

215
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:28,320
or in Libya.

216
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:35,240
My first experience in this field,
in the Sinai, was when…

217
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,680
they told me there were many Eritreans,

218
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,040
and many Africans in general,

219
00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:43,760
who were in the state prisons.

220
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,600
They were in Arish, Rafah, Azouli.

221
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,600
In all these areas there were 15 prisons

222
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:55,440
with more or less 300, 400 Africans.

223
00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:01,560
So I asked if I could go see them,
because I wanted to help them.

224
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,360
The police allowed me
to enter the prisons,

225
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:12,040
so I went in with a nun, Sister Muna,
who helped me.

226
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,800
We brought food, clothes, medicines.

227
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:22,280
Then we said, "We need to do something
to take them out."

228
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,280
We asked the Ethiopian government
for permission,

229
00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:27,320
who generously granted us

230
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,240
to bring them to Ethiopia as refugees.

231
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:36,320
They still grant permits

232
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,360
to come… to Ethiopia,

233
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,640
and then they are sent to refugee camps

234
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,680
so that they are out of prisons,

235
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,560
away from disease and suffering.

236
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:54,400
We freed in total nearly 8,500 people.

237
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,320
Various donors chipped in,
because flights are expensive.

238
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,760
We are Eritreans, we are all Eritreans.

239
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,440
All of us, men and women.

240
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,480
The reason for the frustration
which brought us…

241
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,800
to cross the country,
is the lack of rules and laws.

242
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:04,760
People in our country have no power.

243
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:09,320
That is why many abandon their homes
and flee the country.

244
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:16,800
I'm really happy you welcomed me this way,

245
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,600
and I'm going to tell you calmly
all I have to say.

246
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,200
Our people know the rules and the laws
of our country.

247
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,800
But if we say inconvenient things,
we are eradicated like bad grass

248
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,200
and thrown into prisons,
where many people have ended up.

249
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,120
Youngsters have been brought
to a place called Sawa,

250
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:38,760
forced and beaten up.

251
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,000
They took them away
without informing their parents.

252
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:43,600
This is what happened

253
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:45,840
and this is why we were eradicated
and forced to escape.

254
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,080
We can't fight against this situation,

255
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,200
because it can't be resolved or changed
with some kind of fight.

256
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,080
People preferred to leave the country.

257
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,440
Those people you've seen, they've never
stolen nor committed any crime.

258
00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,360
But they had to flee their country
for this reason.

259
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,720
When we come to neighbouring countries,
like Somalia and Ethiopia,

260
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,000
they often ask us
why we haven't fought until now.

261
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,880
But if we fought, there would be
a big scattering of blood.

262
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:15,880
What you get from a bloodshed
is always a return to other bloodsheds.

263
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,320
The elders are the ones who escape,

264
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,200
because they aren't forced
to join the military,

265
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,080
they aren't forced to do anything else.

266
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,160
But if they have children
who have escaped

267
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,360
to Sudan or Israel,

268
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,680
the government tells them,
"You either bring your children back,

269
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:53,800
or you pay 50,000 nakfa."

270
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:59,000
They can live for two years
on 50,000 nakfa.

271
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,160
So where would they get it from?

272
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:02,600
And they escape.

273
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:04,560
They leave everything and escape.

274
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,000
There are many elders who tell me,

275
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:15,320
"Alga, take us back to our country.
We want to die at home."

276
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:38,240
This is how I got here.

277
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,640
I first lived in the Barka region,

278
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,880
in a place called Enjehai.

279
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,040
It's a new place
and I moved there to be a farmer.

280
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,240
While I was there,
my children escaped from the country.

281
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:56,040
Then the government asked me
to pay 200,000 nakfa

282
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,000
because my children had escaped.

283
00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,560
When it happened, I asked for some time
to find the money.

284
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:02,600
Then I escaped by plane,
because I had a passport.

285
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,080
Did you get to Ethiopia?

286
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,320
I went to Kenya,
then from Kenya I got to Ethiopia.

287
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,560
This is the reason why I'm far away
from my children,

288
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,280
who live here and there.

289
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,880
Because of all of that,
I live here. I'm suffering,

290
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:18,800
I've got diabetes
and high blood pressure.

291
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:38,400
AT SHIMELBA REFUGEE CAMP,
WITH 60% OF KUNAMA

292
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:53,320
The Kunama, they came
from a Nilotic river.

293
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,160
For more than 150 years…

294
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,280
{\an8}they lived around a river
called "Tsona"…

295
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,200
{\an8}EZEKIEL CHANNE,
ANTHROPOLOGIST KUNAMA

296
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:02,240
…or Gash river.

297
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,880
They lived in that area,

298
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,920
and their only occupation was cultivating,
farming a land.

299
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:11,640
In that moment…

300
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:17,640
they didn't have any governmental rules.

301
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:22,480
They didn't have any administration,
they didn't have any organization.

302
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:26,360
They lived simply doing their duty.

303
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:32,840
In that stage, Kunama,
they had their great culture

304
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,400
of traditions,
and they had their religion.

305
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:40,560
The god of our religion is called Dungun.

306
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:52,320
I was born in 1990

307
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:56,280
in the south region of Mekel.

308
00:36:56,360 --> 00:37:00,320
I studied in the Gash-Barka region.

309
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,360
Its capital is Barentu.

310
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:07,480
And I completed my education
in the military service.

311
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:12,320
Then I enrolled in college
and I studied anthropology.

312
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:17,080
So, I graduated after two years.

313
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:22,400
And then they sent me to my region.

314
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,360
At the time,
I saw a lot of discriminations…

315
00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:29,360
towards myself and towards my community.

316
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,160
We are suffering,
we have a lot of problems

317
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:34,560
because of those discriminations.

318
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:38,680
And at last, I decided to flee
to the neighbouring country

319
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:40,560
which is called Ethiopia.

320
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:52,240
When I fled from Eritrea,

321
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,800
first I found somebody who knew the way

322
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,720
to the border.

323
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:03,320
He agreed to take me
and I agreed with him at the time.

324
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,320
And he arrived in Barentu

325
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,480
and he took me from Barentu

326
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,560
to the north, in an area called Shambuko.

327
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,680
So, at the time, it was midnight,

328
00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:18,400
11 p.m.

329
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:23,600
We decided to go to the border area.

330
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,360
We were close to the border,

331
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,120
it was 12 a.m.

332
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:34,200
Early in the morning, I escaped
from the border to the Ethiopian army.

333
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:38,560
And the Ethiopian army took me to UNHCR,

334
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,120
in Endebaguna.

335
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:45,120
And then from Endebaguna,
they took me to my community area

336
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:46,560
which is called Shimelba.

337
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:58,840
They could ask you a question,
and you only had one chance.

338
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:03,840
If Eritrean soldiers found you,
they would ask you one question.

339
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,880
"Do you want to die
or do you want to live?"

340
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:15,840
At that time…
I don't think so, it's very tough.

341
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:19,080
I was very afraid for my life
in that moment.

342
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:20,800
And for my family as well.

343
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,320
Even for my family.

344
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:25,320
If they found me
when I crossed the border…

345
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,040
my family would have been in danger.

346
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,160
Because of the political issue.

347
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,520
Because of the discrimination
against our people.

348
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,320
My dream, or my hope,

349
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:52,600
most of the time,
is not only for my personal issue.

350
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:57,880
I want a better life
for my whole community.

351
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:10,440
In 615, Mohammed was being persecuted
by his people.

352
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,400
And when he was being persecuted
by his people,

353
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:19,120
some say he suggested to his followers
to go to Ethiopia…

354
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:25,320
were they would have been welcomed
by a just king.

355
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:30,880
And so Mohammed's followers
came to Ethiopia, in 615,

356
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:36,600
and they were welcomed
by the emperor, by the king at the time.

357
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:42,320
Their persecutors came to Ethiopia to…

358
00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:46,680
to continue the persecution,

359
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:48,640
but the king defended them because…

360
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,440
when he had asked the followers,

361
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,160
"Why are you being persecuted?"

362
00:41:56,800 --> 00:42:02,640
They said, "We worshipped different gods,

363
00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:04,720
we were polytheists,

364
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,400
Mohammed came and told us
there is only one God.

365
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:12,880
He taught us how to pray, how to fast,

366
00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:17,120
prostrations, how to do pilgrimages."

367
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,120
And the Christian king was amazed.

368
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,280
"We pray as well, we fast as well.

369
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,520
You have a good religion
and I must defend you."

370
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:29,720
And so he did, and they are still here.

371
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:32,160
Nowadays,

372
00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:37,400
the refugees are not only Muslims.

373
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:27,640
I want to distinguish
between the Sinai of the traffickers

374
00:44:27,720 --> 00:44:32,960
and the one of the state prisons.

375
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:37,160
We have never had any problems
with state prisons.

376
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:44,400
By compromising with the police and
with the help of the immigration office,

377
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:48,280
and also with the help
of the Ethiopian government

378
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:50,000
who accepts the refugees,

379
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:55,280
we managed to bring
8,500, 8,700 people here.

380
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:58,960
Another issue,
which is the most dramatic and sad,

381
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:02,680
is human trafficking.

382
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:07,360
People were sold from Sudan,
from Rashaidas.

383
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:14,080
From there,
they were bought from an Egyptian tribe

384
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:19,280
which trafficked human beings and organs.

385
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,040
They were sold in five stages.

386
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:25,800
The first stage,
they paid a certain amount.

387
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:30,680
The second, it increased.
The third, it increased and so on.

388
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,960
Until, after the last stage,

389
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:37,680
they asked for a ransom of $60,000.

390
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:42,680
Throughout this path of five sales,

391
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,680
there was suffering and torture.

392
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:51,120
They asked boys or girls,

393
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:53,920
"Do you have family abroad?"

394
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,680
And then said, "If you don't pay,

395
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:58,760
we'll take a kidney
or your cornea from you.

396
00:45:58,840 --> 00:45:59,880
We'll kill you."

397
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:05,000
They got scared and said,

398
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:11,920
"Yes, I have a relative,
my parents are poor in Eritrea."

399
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,120
So they asked them
for their phone numbers.

400
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,160
They made them ring their families
with a satellite phone,

401
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:24,840
and while they were talking
with their families, they tortured them.

402
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,720
They poured down
burned plastic bags on them.

403
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,360
They screamed,
and the family on the other side

404
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:38,440
heard them screaming and saying,
"They're killing me, help me,

405
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:44,120
I don't know what to do,
they're asking for a ransom of $10,000."

406
00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:49,040
The family on the other side shouted,
some mothers fainted,

407
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:52,400
because they couldn't stand to hear
their children screaming.

408
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:56,800
They told them, "Give us time."

409
00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:00,360
A week, ten, 15 days.

410
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:02,200
The traffickers accepted.

411
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:07,000
Bear in mind that the people with them

412
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:10,440
were tied with chains
on their feet and hands.

413
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:14,920
While they were waiting for the ransom
to be paid,

414
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:18,560
the families went around begging
for money,

415
00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:21,360
asking relatives to help them.

416
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:26,520
There's no family in Eritrea
who hasn't been through this suffering.

417
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:30,800
There's no family in Eritrea
who hasn't seen their child

418
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:34,680
dying in the Mediterranean,
or in the Sahara desert,

419
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,120
or in the Sinai desert.

420
00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:32,040
There were also girls
who were kidnapped from Eritrea,

421
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:34,320
from the hinterland of Asmara,

422
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:40,640
and they were sold on
until they arrived in Egypt

423
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:44,640
through these traffickers.

424
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:48,280
Sixteen, 17-year-old girls

425
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:55,440
who were raped by the guardians,
five, six times a day.

426
00:48:55,520 --> 00:49:01,560
Imagine a 16, 17-year-old girl
who is being raped…

427
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,640
without respite, every day.

428
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:09,720
When we freed them, we met girls

429
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:13,960
who were completely destroyed,

430
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:16,400
physically and mentally as well.

431
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:20,720
The story of Smret,

432
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:26,120
they kidnapped her when she was 14
with a friend of hers…

433
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:28,320
and…

434
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:31,560
they brought her to the Sinai.

435
00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:35,320
She was sold on
from one trafficker to another.

436
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:40,320
They asked for 40,000 from the family,
who didn't have it.

437
00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:44,600
So they said, "Don't worry,
let them pay whatever they can,

438
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:47,840
otherwise we are going to kill you.

439
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:51,200
We do our job and get our money

440
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,720
because we bought you,

441
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:58,640
so the money has to get here."

442
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:02,640
She didn't understand.

443
00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:05,200
Every time they touched her, she fainted.

444
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:09,040
And yet, although she had fainted,
they raped her.

445
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:15,640
We freed this girl
and brought her to Ethiopia.

446
00:50:17,240 --> 00:50:20,040
Every time she…

447
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:27,880
She gets a panic attack
every time someone gets close to her.

448
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:32,120
She doesn't understand…
"What does this person want?"

449
00:50:37,240 --> 00:50:38,240
Boys too.

450
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:42,400
Boys, in addition to being beaten up,

451
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:45,560
electrical shocks.

452
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:50,920
They poured water on them
and they put electrodes on them

453
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,160
and started the shock.

454
00:50:54,240 --> 00:50:57,120
And they did this until they fainted.

455
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:00,760
That's how they were tortured.

456
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,840
So there were…

457
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,280
We freed 750 of them,

458
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:10,960
but apart from these 750,
how many died?

459
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:13,720
How many bodies did we find in the desert?

460
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:17,520
How many dumped bodies
did we find in the desert

461
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:21,760
that we took and brought to the mortuary?

462
00:51:21,840 --> 00:51:23,720
So many boys, so many girls.

463
00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:28,680
Sometimes I ask myself,

464
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:34,880
"This Sinai was the land
where all the prophets passed through,

465
00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:39,040
but in the end it was also the land
in which…

466
00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:44,040
nearly 10,000 Africans died.

467
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,800
Torture, organ theft,

468
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:53,480
and no one has asked where they are,
or what happened to them.

469
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:03,760
Amidst the suffering, there are people
who are generous and help.

470
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:07,920
For this, I have to thank
Sham Ahmed's family.

471
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:12,880
He is an imam, who's still living,
a young man.

472
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:17,120
He risked his life,
just like I risked mine,

473
00:52:17,720 --> 00:52:21,720
to free these prisoners,
who he didn't know.

474
00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:29,600
I was beaten up in Libya
because we were going to free some people,

475
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:31,120
and also in the Sinai.

476
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:37,960
But these are physical sufferings.

477
00:52:38,720 --> 00:52:40,040
The other ones…

478
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:46,400
The other beating I have received
goes much deeper.

479
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:49,560
When I was picking up the bodies of…

480
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,720
boys and girls in the desert,

481
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:55,920
and they had no face,

482
00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:58,640
because they had been burned
to make them unrecognizable.

483
00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:03,200
That was an incredible tragedy.
Unbearable.

484
00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:08,120
I had the same horrible feeling
in Lampedusa

485
00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:13,840
when I saw all these bodies,
all these graves,

486
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:15,440
these children.

487
00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:21,520
When they took them
they looked like angels,

488
00:53:21,600 --> 00:53:23,000
like they hadn't died.

489
00:53:24,760 --> 00:53:29,200
Their parents had died…

490
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,640
maybe eaten by the fish.

491
00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:38,560
All this human horror,

492
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:42,640
all this wickedness…

493
00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:46,120
I ask myself,

494
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:52,640
"Have we reached the pinnacle?"

495
00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:02,880
I'd like to be a voice
for those that don't have a voice.

496
00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:06,800
I don't know, I'm trying to.

497
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:31,320
TO ENDABAGUNA RECEPTION CENTRE

498
00:56:42,080 --> 00:56:43,560
She is not feeling well.

499
00:56:47,640 --> 00:56:49,120
She is not feeling…

500
00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:04,800
She got scared, she said,
"All these people…

501
00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:10,880
Who is with their families at home?
Are they alone?"

502
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:10,280
Despite seeing so many arriving,

503
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:13,360
and leaving for Europe,

504
00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:14,280
it is…

505
00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:21,000
It is too much, seeing all these sad eyes

506
00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:27,200
that see hope on the horizon.

507
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:30,920
Hope to be able to study in the future,

508
00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:33,720
to become somebody.

509
00:58:34,800 --> 00:58:39,400
And also hope to get back
to their country, to try to help.

510
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:42,200
Amidst so much suffering…

511
00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:48,040
they helped me to see
with their eyes, to see hope.

512
00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:51,320
Hope for a better future.