Birth and Beyond - A Happy Ending for A Migrant Family Torn Apart by Libyan Conflict
When the conflict in Libya broke out, pregnant Halima and her
husband Walle – Nigerian migrants who had been looking
forward to a new and joyous future – had their lives turned
upside down. They had planned to return home for the birth of their
first child but a week before they were due to leave Libya, the
crisis reached Misrata, where the couple had been living and
working for three years.
Amid the sound of artillery, bombs and gunfire, they were
trapped inside their apartment for two months, afraid to go out. It
was not only the bombs raining down on the city that kept them
there but also stories of black Africans being targeted over
allegations that they were mercenaries fighting for the Libyan
leader. A Libyan friend would bring them food and provisions but
despite this lifeline, they rarely slept.
"On top of everything, the lack of electricity and water was
unbearable. Luckily, we had stored some water in our tank. We
feared the effects all this might have on our baby", Walle
explains.
When an artillery shell landed in the yard outside their home,
destroying the house next door, they knew they had to find a way to
leave. A friend had told them of an IOM boat that was taking
migrants out of the besieged city so they managed to find a car and
manoeuvre their way through a series of checkpoints to reach the
port.
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Salloum on the Libyan-Egyptian border. © IOM 2011
They had to wait several days at a Libyan Red Crescent site
before the IOM boat was finally able to moor. Mines and heavy
shelling of the port had forced the boat to stay off-shore for five
days, uncertain it would be able to carry out its sixth mission to
rescue migrants stranded in the city.
But as the couple queued to board the trucks taking migrants to
the dock, there was a burst of artillery fire, killing one migrant
family instantly and sparking chaos among the others
"There were many wounded lying around screaming in agony. Half
an hour passed before it was safe enough for the Red Crescent team
to start loading people on the buses. By this time many trucks had
left, never to come back. The few which remained were filled up
quickly with people desperate to get to the IOM ship. I saw one
truck that was full to the brink, but I told myself I must get
Halima in. I better die here than she", Walle recalls.
Walle managed to get a seat for Halima but there was no space
for him so he had to get off, promising to get on the next truck.
But by the time he reached the port, the IOM boat had already left,
with Halima on it.
For Halima, boarding the boat was a nightmare as people pushed
and shoved and armed Libyans tried to prevent Africans from
boarding.
"When an IOM staff intervened to stop them, they threatened to
shoot him. By now artillery shells had again begun to fall in the
port area. People were shouting and jostling. The crew on the boat
decided to pull up the ramp and the boat started to pull away from
the port. I fell down and cried in desperation as I realized we had
left Walle behind", Halima remembers.
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border. © IOM 2011
Halima arrived in Benghazi on 5th May and two weeks later, on
19th May and with no news of Walle during that time, went into
labour. A day later she gave birth to a healthy baby boy but Halima
refused to name him until Walle could do so. With communication
between them cut, the waiting was agony.
Meanwhile, Walle and the other stranded migrants in Misrata were
transferred to an abandoned house to wait for the next IOM rescue
mission. No one knew how long that wait would be.
Eventually on 23rd May, Walle and the other migrants were
finally taken to the port to board IOM's seventh rescue mission to
Benghazi. Before he left Misrata, he somehow got word of his son's
birth. Overjoyed, he named him Mohammed Oluwapelumi – which
means "God is with me".
The journey east was easier with this news. Like all the other
migrants evacuated from Misrata by IOM, Walle was taken to Salloum
on the Libyan-Egyptian border.
Late on 24th May and with the help of IOM staff, Walle found his
wife in a building at the border post where women migrants were
sleeping.
Speechless with joy at this unexpected reunion, Halima held on
tight to her husband as he took his baby boy in his arms.
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family a couple of days later left Salloum for Cairo airport.
© IOM 2011
In all the horror of conflict and the endless tragedies suffered
by the migrants and other civilians, this was a rare moment of
happiness and hope - as much for IOM staff as for the migrants.
Seizing the opportunity, they celebrated the birth of Mohammed and
Walle and Halima's reunion by handing out soft drinks to the
migrants there.
But the family's journey was not over. After a few days rest,
the couple and baby Mohammed finally left Salloum, bound for Cairo
airport.
"I am so happy to go home. We are going straight to our family
and will have another celebration at home. We have no plans to
return to Libya or to go anywhere else. We will stay in Nigeria, it
is our home", Walle says emphatically as they board they the IOM
bus.