Two Nigerians, Stephen Ekhiator and Mabel Emmanuel, met at a migrants’ detention camp in Libya and fell in love with each other. Today, they have a son together.
Ekhator narrated to BBC Africa how he had tried several times to cross the Mediterranean sea into Italy but could not succeed.
“You cannot determine your wife to be, or where you can find her. It can just happen suddenly,” Ekhiator said.
“He [his son, David] was born inside the deportation camp. We were in the deportation camp together when she [his wife] was giving birth.
“I felt bad; every day I cried. I couldn’t even eat. I must say Libya is a prison, a life where there is no freedom.
“I have tried [crossing the sea] five times; I failed. Twice my boat capsized on top of the sea. What I will tell people that want to go (to Libya) is, ‘never even think about it.'”
Ekhiator then burst into a song in pidgin English: “Who no go no go know, who no go no go wetin we see.” Then he adds: ”That’s how we always sang it in the deportation camps.”
Thankfully, however, Ekhiator and Mabel are part of the migrants who were recently repatriated to Nigeria following the intervention of the International Orginisation for Migration (IOM)
Watch the video below, courtesy of BBC Africa:
How two Nigerians fell in love and had a baby in a Libyan detention camp. pic.twitter.com/pGCdLh7x8J
— BBC Africa (@BBCAfrica) December 13, 2017