by Jenelle Eli

To ARCRA members: Jenelle Eli, of American Red Cross International Services, spent more than three weeks on an International Federation vessel, that was transporting immigrants out of Libya. We encourage your attention to Ms. Eli's article and accompanying photos; they are especially compelling in light of current controversies surrounding immigration.

What I heard in the middle of the Mediterranean in the middle of the night

Post by Jenelle Eli,American Red Cross, aboard the Responder on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Migrants don’t launch off the Libyan coast during the day. It’s more like midnight. When the waves are low and winds are gentle, smugglers crowd 100,

Over the next hours, the moon dominates. Silence. Then, panic. This isn’t what any of them envisioned when they left Nigeria, Bangladesh, Syria, Mali. Some people will end up dying in the Mediterranean Sea (more than 3,600 so far this year). Others will be rescued. For the crew aboard the Responder rescue vessel — where I just lived for three and a half weeks — every hope and fear of the passengers is illuminated by a single search light. Once safely aboard the Responder, here are some of the things they told me: 200, 300 souls into wooden boats or rubber dinghies. Due north.

"We are the lucky ones."

There’s no dependable estimate for how many migrants perish in the Sahara Desert on their way to the Libyan coast, but that crossing may be even more dangerous than the Mediterranean. Many told me of starvation, dehydration, violence, and sexual assault in the desert. Once in Libya, nearly everyone I spoke with had been kidnapped and their families extorted for money. It’s practically a miracle they made it to the Libyan coast alive.

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