I Am Justice: A Journey Out of Africa
by Paul Kenyon
Preface Publishing, £16.99
The shocking picture of 27 men clinging to a fishing net in the Mediterranean made headline news in May 2007 and captured the desperation of so many African migrants willing to risk life and limb in order to escape poverty. Their inadequate boat had capsized and it was fortunate that the men were in reach of the giant tuna net that effectively saved their lives. But instead of being speedily rescued they were towed – starving, dehydrated – by a Maltese tugboat for three days. The captain, too callous to let them on board, said he could not risk losing $1 million of tuna. Eventually, they were rescued by an Italian warship.
In I Am Justice, award-winning journalist Paul Kenyon tells the harrowing story of Justice Amin, one of those men. Seeking a better life away from an abusive uncle, Justice leaves his Ghanaian village and heads north. He travels by bus, truck and then walks across the Sahara desert into Libya. There, he is picked up by the police and detained in a remote desert prison, where the inmates are regularly beaten and tortured. After escaping with some fellow detainees, Justice arrives on the Libyan coast and joins a community of fellow Africans butchering goats and lugging cement onto trucks. From there, they await the opportunity to travel to Europe; paying vast sums to people smugglers who organise boats out of Libya and promise safe passage.
As Kenyon demonstrates, the cost is high – not just in dollars, but in the distress caused by being marooned in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats, sometimes with inadequate food and fuel supplies. It is no surprise that many Africans meet a watery grave. Often those attempting to reach Europe are not just escaping poverty, but fleeing war-torn countries or human rights abuses. Justice and his companions finally reach safety, but are left traumatised.
Kenyon writes with poignancy about the plight of Justice and the Africans with him on the last, most terrifying leg of his journey. Although they make it to the Italian island of Lampedusa, 170 miles north of Tripoli, the ordeal is not yet over. They still have to find work and accommodation. Those who face expulsion are forced underground where they endure further hardship. There are no easy answers to the dangers and exploitation associated with economic migration, but Kenyon’s book offers rare and valuable insights from an African perspective.
Lucy Popescu
