Ayad said, “What really struck me is the number of countries represented in what was eventually about 300 people who came back with us to Italy. So we saw people from Bangladesh, from Nigeria, from Morocco, from Eritrea, from Syria. We met a Gazan. Egyptians. It's a huge mix of people with quite a large variety of reasons obviously, for coming along. People from Nigeria we spoke to. Some said they wanted work. Others said they have medical conditions. They wanted those treated. Many—a couple of men from Eritrea—obviously an authoritarian country—people are imprisoned at will there. And one man we met was in prison four times and he'd had enough so he walked through the Sahara to get away and to get to Libya and to get himself in a boat and to get to Paris where he has family.”
Only peace in the Middle East will stem this tide of human suffering.