Ocean Viking, the boat from the SOS Mediterranean organization, is conducting a new rescue campaign in the central Mediterranean.
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At sea, the ship rescued 796 people from Libya to Europe in January and February. RFI embarks on this mission. Every day we receive the logbook from our special correspondent.
“Please play a game with me,” Amias asks me. The 9-year-old boy points to two painted boards on the floor. Wooden puck acts as pawns. Amias has been aboard the Ocean Viking for three days: he has already had the opportunity to play several times, especially with his sisters. Now he has to share the space with the newcomers. Because the activity pleases: at certain times, you have to wait for your turn to be able to play. And the spectators become coaches, who each give advice to the players.
Inside the shelter, some rest and roll up in the blankets they were given when they arrived at the boat. The need for rest is felt by those who were rescued the day before. One night pushed into an inflatable boat another with more comfort but shaken by hard seas that punctured months of suffering in Libya: faces remain marked by fatigue.
In the middle of the men’s shelter, some of them begin the meal. The time is determined freely by each: the portions, survival feed rations, are distributed in the evening for 24 hours. “It’s a bowl of meat and peas. It is already prepared. You have to put water in the bag to heat it up, and then it is ready to be eaten, ”explains one of the men with a pocket in his hands, which he closes by folding the top. The water poured into it has activated a self-heating system: after a few minutes of waiting, the bowl is ready.
On deck, members of the SOS Méditerranée crew take turns answering questions and needs and ensuring that instructions are followed. “You have to leave plastic shoes at the entrance to the toilets so everyone can use them,” Claire repeats to each other. Most of the rescued arrived barefoot to the boat. Socks were provided in the welcome set. To avoid getting dirty on the toilets, there are plastic slippers at the entrance to the sanitary block, but they are not individual.
“Sorry, we can not charge mobile phones. There are too many of you, ”exclaims Claire, one of the survivors. A few seconds later, she promises to take a spoon to another who has no place to eat. The requirements are constant. And with 116 people having to share limited space and resources, the limitations are likely to be many and frustrating. “I want to take a bath,” said one of the men rescued Thursday. “It’s been three days since I last washed, I wish I could.” On the boat, the consumption of fresh water must be closely monitored. “They told us it would be possible in two hours. Inch’Allah! ”
But these limitations probably do not bother Felix, as he sits with his friends on one of the benches installed on the bridge. “Here we are like in a villa,” said the Ivory Coast teenager after two months in Libya. “Here I fear nothing,” he continues, opposing Ocean Viking to the country he has just left: “Libya is hell on earth.”
At the other end of the bridge, Aleen reviews the photos on her phone. For a moment he returns to his past life: he sees his office, his house, his room, his cat. He also shows a video where he plays drums. “Listen,” he said, placing his phone near my ear. “These are North African rhythms” He is originally from Houara on the Libyan coast. Unlike the survivors of sub-Saharan Africa, he is capable of nostalgia for a country from which all have fled. But he will not go back either, he quickly explains. “Libya is not good. It’s over for me. There are only weapons everywhere. ”
