Habi thought that she could easily earn money working as a maid in Libya and come back to Nigeria to take care of her children with some savings. In 2019, she sold all her belongings to pay for the trip. At three months pregnant, she crossed Benin and then Niger, but suffered a miscarriage on the road.
When she finally arrived in Libya, she and the group she was traveling with were immediately intercepted by soldiers, who took them to a camp before sending them back to Arlit in the north of Niger, where IOM offered her assistance. She spent two months in IOM transit center in Arlit before she was transfered to the transit centre in Agadez.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she remained there for seven months before being able to board a plane to Lagos. Upon her return, IOM invited her to attend a business management training before she opened a grocery store. Today, Habi uses the money she earns to support her family and to send her children to school.
Details
- Publication date
- 26 November 2021
- Region and Country
- Uganda
- Ethiopia
- Eritrea
- Djibouti
- Kenya
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Guinée
- Ghana
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Senegal
- Tchad
- The Gambia
- Mali
- Mauritanie
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroun
- Nigeria
- Niger
- Thematic
- Improved migration management
- Partner
- International Organization for Migration
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees