http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2961951/No-mama-no-papa-11-year-old-Eritrean-boy-left-family-join-thousands-migrants-heading-Lampedusa.html
'No mama, no papa. All alone': The 11-year-old Eritrean boy who has left his family behind to join thousands of migrants heading to Lampedusa
Tanjin from Eritrea is among 2,000 to land on the Island in the last five days
He left his family behind and faces military conscription if he is sent back
Around 300 migrants are thought to have drowned on their way from Libya
170,000 migrants from Asia and Africa landed on the Italian island in 2014
Trend since start of the year suggests that figure will be surpassed in 2015
By JAY AKBAR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 17:23 GMT, 20 February 2015 | UPDATED: 19:14 GMT, 20 February 2015
The smile on 11-year-old Tanjin's face as he plays football on the tiny island of Lampedusa hides the life-threatening journey he took to get there.
He is one of 2,000 asylum seekers to land on Italy's southern port since last weekend - having risked their lives crossing the rough Mediterranean waters on smuggling boats.
The Eritrean boy left his family behind and if he is sent back too, he faces being conscripted into the country's military.
For that reason, the boy is likely to remain in Europe where he will continue his education.
He will now be transferred to a reception centre on the mainland that specialises in dealing with minors who reach the country alone.
Several children did not survive the trip. As many as 300 migrants are thought to have drowned on the rough Mediterranean waters after being ordered to get on flimsy rubber dinghies from Libya.
While Tanjin worked on his dribbling, Somali teenager Abdenajib was calling worried relatives back home.
'I am saying that I'm in Italy now, it's good. They see, I am saying that I haven't died,' he said after the conversation with his mother and sister who occupy a refugee camp in Kenya.
Abdenajib acknowledges how lucky he was to survive a day and a half at sea - just days after 29 migrants had perished from exposure.
And speaking through the chain-link fence at Lampedusa's migrant reception centre, the 15-year-old revealed his dream was to become a doctor.
He said: 'I want help, I want to learn and education. I want to go to Norway.'
His journey began in Kenya, from where he travelled through Uganda and Sudan before finally reaching the Libyan capital Tripoli. There, he handed over £700 to smugglers for the boat trip to Italy.
Most of the migrants on Lampedusa - including Adam from Mali - were rescued by the Italian coastguard or by merchant ships.
He said: 'We were in the first boat and that's why we didn't have problems because Italians took us in when the waves started coming towards us.
'As for me, I need Italian citizenship. Here, we are all tired. Since I left the north of Mali until now, there have been issues.'
The sudden surge in arrivals has stretched the island's reception facilities to breaking point as the centre struggles to deal with three times the number of migrants it was designed to.
More than 170,000 migrants from the Africa, the Middle East and South Asia landed in Italy last year and the trend since the start of the year suggests that number will be surpassed in 2015.
Amnesty International said the European Union's limited coastal patrol operation off Italy was desperately ill-equipped to cope with the soaring numbers.
Its spokesperson said: 'Unless the void of Italy's now defunct lifesaving Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation is filled, refugees and migrants will continue to die in great numbers at sea.'
Image:
The smile on 11-year-old Tanjin's
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/20/25DEBD9300000578-0-image-m-20_1424451462224.jpg
Received on Sat Feb 21 2015 - 05:59:45 EST
