The Jasmin Revolution has sparked the powders of rebellion across the Middle East, and in Libya the movement has met with stiff resistance. Caught in the crossfire, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have been fleeing since late February. Seeking refuge mainly in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, those migrants wanting to go back home are being helped by IOM. Those who cannot or do not want to are being driven to desperate measures to find a new life elsewhere

Like so many others, Faith, a young woman from Nigeria's Benin City and her husband were well established in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where both were working and making ends meet. Hoping that the crisis would soon conclude, Faith and her husband carried on, though the situation became increasingly dangerous.

Ultimately, it became too frightening and fearing for their lives, they joined a group of about 900 people trying to get to Italy by sea on a fateful Saturday morning in early June.

They each paid 800 Libyan dinars (approximately USD 300) for spots on a boat that would take them from Janzour (near Tripoli) to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

"The vessel is too large to come to the beach," they were told and everyone was ferried out on small boats. By the time they reached the craft, it was clear that this was no more than a large fishing boat but it was too late to go back!

Choucha camp on the Libyan-Tunisian border sees the bulk of the arrival of migrants from Libya © IOM 2011
Choucha camp on the Libyan-Tunisian border sees the bulk of the arrival of migrants from Libya © IOM 2011

The journey was to take approximately 28 hours and passengers had been told to bring one bottle of water and minimal rations.

By the next morning, the vessel was within sight of the Tunisian island of Djerba, well on its way to Italy it seemed. Heading north from there, with no compass on board, the ship became lost at sea. For the next two days, it sailed aimlessly. By midday Tuesday, the boat treaded shallow waters and ran aground. It was another 24 hours before Tunisian authorities were to carry out an ill-fated rescue operation which saw the loss of so many lives.

Women and children were being rescued first. Faith was already aboard the Tunisian ship by the time the fishing boat tipped onto one side. The ensuing confusion defies all explanation.

In Choucha camp on the Libyan-Tunisian border which has seen the bulk of the arrival of migrants from Libya, Faith now sits in a tent she shares with Emmanuel, 15, and four-year-old Jacob. Their mother moved to Libya with her children nearly three years ago to work as a hairdresser. She may have perished during the rescue mission but no one knows for sure.

All three are haggard and desperate, hoping against hope that the missing loved ones may be among the survivors who were taken to a hospital in Sfax.

"I do not know if my husband is alive and if he is at the hospital," says Faith. "We cannot go there. I do not know anything. All I have is Almighty God."

Faith and her husband went to Libya in search of a better life. He was a construction worker; Faith cleaned houses.

"Many from the shipwreck have already gone back to Libya, to try to get on a boat again," recounts Faith. "Me, I do not have the heart. We were planning to return home at the end of the year and now I have nothing and no way to start. The clothes I wear are not mine. I have lost all of my savings. Everything is gone, everything is gone."