This is one of the case studies that had been presented in the AMECEA Caritas, Justice and Peace consultative forum by Bekele Moges – Caritas Director Ethiopia. The study reminds us the immense work ahead of us and the need to bring about dignity in the people of the region and especially the youth. We call upon the Justice and Peace workers and the Caritas workers in the region to engage with national and regional governments to bring dignity to the migrant, improve the standards in the prisons and most importantly provide opportunities for the youth in their countries to reduce the preying of the innocent by traffickers. This, is only one case out of the millions of cases that have ended up wrongly. Let us stop the indifference and act now.
Habtamu Petrosis the youngest son in a family of six children. He has five siblings.He was born in 1985 of Mr. Petros Sugebo and Mrs. Woltemariam Ergete who live in the Hadiya Zone at Massena village located 24 kilometers from the Zonal Capital Hosanna Town.
All the children in the family were sent to school but could not continue with their education after completing the eighth grade save for Habtamu. Habtamu commenced his studies with the encouragement of his father up to completion of the University preparatory class. He did not make it to a public university and was therefore forced to join a private university where he paid a tuition fee of 15 USD per month. He graduated with a Diploma in Laws.
Agriculture is the source of livelihood in Hadiya Zone.His family supported him in his education through agricultural production and also marketing of livestock such as sheep and goats. In the region, families subdivide the land to accommodate their sons when they start families and this was not any different from Habtamu’s family. The family had, by the time of his graduation allocated half (0.5) hectares of land to his elder siblings out of their total three (3) hectares.
Habtamu graduated from University in 2009. During this time the family had one oxen and one cow. His graduation gave hope to the family to change their livelihood. The family decided to sell their cow and buy graduation attire and organize celebration for him.
After graduation Habtamu failed to secure a job and could not be able to establish self-employment since he did not have a concrete idea and no startup capital. He eventually started getting frustrated and had a sense of guilt for exhausting the family assets. His conversation with family and friends painted a rosy picture of cars and big buildings and shops in the zonal town, Hosanna, and its surrounding. Also in towns that belonged to people who had gone to South Africa with their families. He eventually was lured to thinking that his dream solutions lay in travelling to South Africa. The continuous peer influence, the push factor of being jobless, unrealistic promises and hopes and the persuasion of the brokers of human traffickers made him reach the decision to migrate to South Africa through the illegal means.
He convinced the family members to send him to South Africa so that he will work and change his
After getting the blessing of the family the search for money to pay to traffickers went on for a month. The amount of money required by the broker to bring him to Johannesburg in South Africa was roughly estimated to 3000 USD. This would cover “consultancy” fees only and other costs such as internal travel expenses up to the boarder of Ethiopia stand the rest would be paid by the migrant. Two (2) months was the timeline given by the broker to arrive in Johannesburg.
With some contribution from close relatives, the selling of the only oxen and leasing part of their farm (one hectare for 10 years), the deal with the brokers was finalized and preparation to start the trip was completed. The date to reach to the Ethiopia Kenyan Boarder to Moyale town (600 km away) was fixed. The mobile contact number of the agent in Moyale was given to Habtamu and he set off by taking a bus to Hawassa town about 150 kilometers from Hosanna. He took another bus from Hawassa to Moyale the next day in the evening. He found the contact person and stayed in a hidden location in the outskirts of the town.
He remembers the first reception of the brokers at Moyale was attractive and very good. “I found about 145 youngsters in that hidden smuggling camp”. At about 2:00 a.m., which was 5 hours after meeting the agent and staying in the camp they were told to rush to a lorry. All of them were loaded on the truck and had to seat on each other. They were driven to Embu in Kenya. They reached to the first destination after 18 hours. In Embu, they were made to stay in the forest. No food or drinks were served. From there on they had to travel on footduring the night and sleep during the day times. They were told to take only the river course or depression along the valley. They were not allowed to follow the roads. After two days they reached “Nairobi” where they were locked in a big room where most of the travelers to South Africa stay waiting for their turn. Here they were served with bread and water. After one day of stay in the Nairobi “confinement” camp, they were all loaded onto a closed 40-foot container. After being driven through the night once again they were left in a forest in a place he does not know. One night in a bush and he was lucky to be on the first group of five to be driven to Taveta, on the border of Kenya and Tanzania.
From there they walked to Tanzania and yet again they were taken in the bush where no one could see them. Food was scarce and they received a piece of bread from the guards once every 24 hours. By now, the target date for reaching Johannesburg had passed. He started to lose hope. His clothes were torn as they kept running through the bushes. During this time the migrants were regrouped in smaller numbers. The group of Habtamu was driven by a truck to a place called ‘Bagamoyo’ north of Dar es Salaam, after which they walked to the border of Tanzania with Malawi. Walking was done strictly at night with resting being done during the day in the bushes. It took them 20 days on foot to reach to the border. They were again placed in an open dormitory (bush). By now, the number of those who had died on the way was five (5). From the border they walked to Central Malawi to a place he refers to as Mphomwwe.
This is where the journey to the “promised land” for Habtamu ended. On the date he does not remember at about 11:00 a.m. the camp was raided by Malawian police. They were remanded for two weeks at the end of which they were arraigned in court. On the same day a verdict of six months imprisonment was given. The six months stay in the prison was very tight. After six months they were told that they were free but they could not go anywhere as the Malawi government could not take them to the Ethiopian border. The Ethiopian Embassy to Malawi resides in Nairobi and no one was able to negotiate on their behalf. Habtamu and his fellow migrants remained in Malawian jail for two years and two months. His ordeal in prison is painful from lack of meals common to him in Ethiopia to lack of proper sanitation facilities. He lost his self-worth. He remembers hope in the form of assistance from the Catholic Church in Malawi who provided soap and sugar for them in prison.
Eventually, the Red Cross helped repatriate Habtamu and his fellow prisoners from Ethiopia to the Kenya Ethiopian border to Moyale. Here they had to wait for family members to come and collect them since they did not have money or decent clothes. Habtamu managed to call his brother and informed him of his predicament. The brother came to pick him and brought with him some clothes and also funds to travel home. Despite the failure, the illusion and expectation of the family they appreciated the safe return of their son.
Once Habtamu returned home he was determined to try again to reestablish himself. This time round he wanted to try self-employment opportunities, which he was not able to actualize before his migration. He went to the local vocational training on welding for six months. While being trained he worked for free in a garage to develop his skills. After his completion of the skill training he was employed and started working at one of the welding garage in Hosanna town. He worked there for 3 months. He saved some money and started his own work. As he was young, of good character and integrity he received a loan from local lenders at an interest rate of 10% in order to buy welding and grinding machines. He bought two secondhand machines, rented a small house and started to produce steel doors and windows. He has hired two young assistants who like him, had attempted the South African trip.
Habtamu regrets for the time he spent in attempting to cross to South Africa. He said he was misled by the false promises for a better life by the brokers. He did not know that the trip would be so grave, challenging and dangerous. Now, he is convinced that hard work and exploitation of the minimal opportunities at home country is better than the fantasy life expected in the unknown country. He advises fellow youngster not to attempt the suffering he passed through. His belief now is that “if death is the only choice better to have it sudden and peaceful than gradual and painful”.
By Antony Mbandi; Justice, Peace and Caritas Coordinator -AMECEA