The Migration (A Boy Story)

Part 5

Diffa, Niger

Ummi took me and Faiz with her to Diffa. We never really travelled out of Sabha before except that I went to school in Al-Qatron, a small town South of Sabha. I've seen lots of migrants coming in from there. Al-Qatron was like an airport town. You'll see different types of people -young women, men walking about and mostly looking tired. Each time our bus drove past a few of them I wondered why they were doing it, but now I know. Our quest for survival makes us do lots of things. I wasn't a migrant then.

Maryam had been lost for a year and Abi had been dead for two years before we took that journey. Ummi said she wanted to see her people and wanted them to meet us. Faiz and I were happy but I was uncertain about going. I felt we need to stay in one place and stop allowing life to throw us about as if that's possible. That time I knew I was lost. I have known the city we are in. I have known what migrants go through. I have seen dead people like in the streets. I have seen morgues pleading for help. I have seen Sabha evolving and I have seen ummi aged untimely.

After Abi's death she continued taking care of us. We received money from his company. He worked in Tripoli in a media house. I never went there. He never said much about his work either. With some of that money Ummi scaled up her business. She got a store close to Abdel Kaf even though she never wanted it but at that time that was the closest to having a store and make more money to take care of us and we started staying in the store selling things to migrants, their commanders and watching human trafficking grew. We watched as people came in from Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Niger and others. We watched women thrown into prostitution. We watched them sleep in the streets. We watched a young girl give birth to children without fathers.

Before the riot, Ummi had said we'll move our store to Tripoli. Sabha and Abdel Kaf are getting worse. Maryam had started complaining about men following her. I couldn't focus much on anything too but the occurrence around me. Abi wouldn't have liked this and Faiz wouldn't really say much.
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Even though Abi travelled to Sudan twice before going again to N'djamena city. He told us it's along the Chad-Cameroon border and that he crossed over the Chari River. I don't know where that's too. I hoped we'd see it but Ummi told me we weren't going that way. I tried talking about times with Abi and Maryam when I couldn't think up anything to tell Faiz again. The bus driver never said anything. He only waves at people on the side of the roads.  I looked at Ummi, her face full of longings and probably acceptance of everything that happened. I tried talking to her but she looked away. I could sense she doesn't want to talk about Abi or anything that has to do with him. I sat back looking outside, the road looked deserted and stretched forever. I thought we're never going to reach Diffa so I wandered back into my thoughts and Abi's journey and hoped we would see Maryam on the road.

After some minutes we reached another checkpoint, some Sudanese were there selling lemun mushakkar. I heard one of them say it. Abi told us that he drank two cups at Tina border with Hissene. I wanted to ask who Hissene is but I couldn't because he never answered questions. I wished Maryam was with us, she would have loved the flowers growing in the deserts.