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.
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 maneuver their way through a series of checkpoints to reach the port.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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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