On Assignment

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the Majority of West African migrants, the return will not reach Europe eventually, in their own countries, but it is a bitter homecoming may. In Sierra Leone , the returnees are often rejected by relatives and friends. They are seen as a failure, and many stole from their families to pay for their trip.

Some readers will find this story disturbingFatmata breaks out in sobs, as she remembers the six months she spent in slavery as a "wife" of a Tuareg-nomads, who grabbed it in the Sahara Desert .

"you call him Ahmed. He was so huge and so hot," she says. "He said, 'You're a slave, you are black. They are the people of Hell . "He told me, if someone want to be a slave, you Can do what you do. Not only him. Sometimes he would tell his friend, 'you Can have a taste of something in My House "They tortured me Every Day . "

that was only the beginning of The Horrors Fatmata, 28 years old, Freetown, Sierra Leone , experienced as they tried to cross West Africa to The Mediterranean sea. They eventually escape, Ahmed, but was again by Human traffickers, she held in her own private prison in Algeria.

After you and other migrants broke, Fatmata, deeply traumatized, decided to abandon their dreams of a new life in Europe , and you go back to where you started. She applied for an intergovernmental Agency, The International organization for Migration (IOM), the pays, the prices for the migrants who want to Return Home .

Last December, came back in Freetown, with the bus of Mali - After almost two years. But there was no emotional reunions, not greeting, no hug. Almost a year later, Fatmata has not yet seen even, your mother or The Daughter , now eight, she Left Behind .

"I was so happy to come back to," she says. "But I wish I would have. "

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When she came back, she called her brother. But his reaction frightened her. "He told me, 'You're not supposed to come home. You should only die there, where she went, because she has brought nothing Back Home . '"

Then, she says, "I had not The Heart to go and see My Mother . "

Fatmata thought you would be able to pay back The Money you stole, But her family did not reject her just because she was a failure. It was how you financed your trip.

you stole 25 million leones, About Us $2,600 at today's exchange rate, but then very much More value by her aunt. It's money given to her aunt to her, to buy clothes, could then be sold on as part of your trading business. Her aunt regularly your trust in this way.

"I thought only of How To get The Money and go," says Fatmata, although she adds that she's not a selfish person. "If I had managed to go to Europe , I decided that I triple The Money I would take good care of My Aunt and my mom. "

But Fatmata, the aunt, the business never recovered from the loss of money. And, worse, the theft has caused a gap between the aunt and her sister, Fatmata's mother, she is falsely accused of being in Fatmata plan.

"I'm in pain, severe pain!", the mother says, when I visit you. "The Day I eyes, Fatmata, you are going to die will end up in The Police Station and I. "

It is a story that come up repeatedly in the families of many of the 3,000 or so in Sierra Leone , which are returned in The Last two years After a failed attempt, to Europe . To send

a time, relatives raised The Money to someone, but there is less willingness, now that the stories of captivity and death along the route have multiplied. Now, many would-be migrants to keep their plans secret, and whatever money they Can , sometimes even the sale of the title deeds to The Family Land .

Jamilatu had stolen money, lent to her mother On the seat of the Advocacy network Against Irregular Migration, a group that helps volunteers returned migrants to build their lives again, all the returnees, I have stolen meet that of their families.

Jamilatu, at the age of 21, who she was fled with Fatmata from the traffickers' jail in Algeria, took a Plastic Bag of cash to the value of $3,500 from her mother's room, when out of The House . The Money does not belong to your mother. It all were given to her by her neighbors, as part of a micro-credit System.

After Jamilatu on the left, the angry creditors, The House of your mother, and to kill, threatening a siege, if you don't have The Money . She was forced to flee to Freetown, Bo, to leave Three Hours away in The South of the country, and their three other children behind with their father.

"My Mother won't talk to me, because of The Money ," Jamilatu says. "So, since I came back, I haven't seen it. And I want my mommy - it is not about two years now, that I see her. "

Jamilatu was estranged from her mother for More Than two years, I visit her mother, Maryatu, in your new home in Bo, and After a long conversation, she says, she'd like to see, Jamilatu again, in spite of The Suffering it caused

But when they meet, soon After that, it is a short, clumsy, and almost silent goodbye. They embrace in a stiff. Then Jamilatu kneels in front of her, asking for forgiveness. Neither looks The Other in the eyes.

and Then, Jamilatu goes directly back to Freetown.

"I Am the happiest woman on earth today, because I've seen my Mama," she says. But she doesn't look happy. Her mother has told her she Can not live under the same roof again until Jamilatu raised The Money to repay the creditors.

It is difficult to see how this will be possible. Jamilatu, such as Fatmata, has no job. Both depend on the support of Advocacy network Against Irregular Migration. The Group was founded by Sheku Bangura, himself a returned migrant, the lobbies, the Sierra Leone government to do More for the returnees - currently, there is very little official support - and tries to give practical help themselves. He finds accommodation for those homeless people, intervening with The Police , if the returnees get in trouble, and organized basic psychological advice.

Sheku Bangura has personal experience with the challenges of the returnees, says "I have a lot of migrants with mental health problems," he said. "These Young People that you are on the road, you have no place to sleep. It is not really easy for you. "

One of those to help in the Advocacy network is the 31-year-old Alimamy, the Sahara three years ago, After the theft and sale of an expensive water packing machine, belonging to his uncle.

One of his two companions died of starvation in the desert. The second drowned trying to cross The Mediterranean sea in a Dinghy. Alimamy ended up in a Libyan detention camp. He was only saved, in November 2017, when the IOM began the organization of flights from Tripoli to West Africa for those who wanted to Go Home .

Emaciated and exhausted, he took the offer of a ticket, but he was terrified of the reception he would get. "I thought I should not come back to Sierra Leone because I know My Uncle has a very high temper," he says. to achieve

Alimamy trying, Europe has ended in a Libyan migration detention centre Since the return, Alimamy has lived with friends. His eldest brother, Sheikh Umar, a former professional footballer, said: "We he is in Freetown, he will suffer. And yet he has not the courage to face, each of us in The Family . "

Sheik Omar says he used to be close to his brother, but when he sees him, now he will ensure that he is "arrested, prosecuted and convicted".

"If he dies in prison, I don't want to regret, I'm sure that none of the members have, the regret, because of the shame he has on all of us. "

He had the entrusted to the water-packaging business Alimamy, run by his uncle, could have generated enough money to feed The Family .

"But he miss this Chance needs, and we are all in this mess, and now... Wherever I go now, people mock me. Our mother is sick, she moved in a village. The (company -) was the beginning of our hope. But Alimamy all of this has been destroyed. "

Alimamy himself, is angry and frustrated. "I have to come Back Home , no influence, just the way I'm zero," he says. "The Place where I live, it is like a Hell for me. The way people look at me, I don't feel happy. You didn't look at me like I'm a Human being. "

Sheik Umar told that His Family has suffered as a result of Alimamy actions, The IOM offers to migrants returning voluntarily to their home countries in Africa, "re-integration "certificates" in the value of up to € 1,500 (£1,270). The Money comes from a 347m-euro Fund, financed mainly by the European Union . But the certificates are not paid in cash. If they were, Most People would just use the refund of their relatives. The IOM pays for the goods or services Can prove to candidates that you need to a particular business.

But for you, the is no longer home sweet. All three are consumed by feelings of worthlessness.

long reads, migration, sierra leone

Source of news: bbc.com