Minutes after crew from the Italian NGO Emergency announced that we’d be disembarking the search-and-rescue vessel in the port city of Livorno in Tuscany, most of the 69 people who had been rescued from the Mediterranean were excitedly hovering over a map of Italy. It was a moment of relief for each person who had braced the dangerous crossing, fleeing war-torn countries like Syria and Sudan. There were smiles, hugs, even dancing, but also grief: for most, the decision to leave home hadn’t been easy, but necessary. During my week onboard the rescue missions, I got to spend a lot of time with the women, men and children who had stepped into dangerous, unseaworthy boats in order to find safety in Europe. We sat in the sun together, chatting about Europe and about the lives they had left behind. We shared meals, stories, smiles. I spoke to Hanan Muhanned, 33, and her daughter Qala, three, who was born with an undiagnosed condition where she is unable to walk or speak. I sat with a man who only referred to himself as “Abu Sheikh Ahmed” – the father of ‘Sheikh Ahmed’, his two-year-old son he cried over ceaselessly during our journey. He wanted to bring him to Europe, but had been too afraid that the little boy might drown. “I’m going ahead so I can bring him one day,” the father told me, showing me dozens of pictures of his smiling little boy. This year, more than 16,000 people have already arrived in Europe by sea, but as the continent is further shifting to the political right, immigration policies are tightening. What this means for people who increasingly have no choice but to leave home – whether that be due to the effects of the climate crisis or war spreading across the Middle East – has yet to be seen. Stefanie Glinski, an Istanbul-based journalist covering the Middle East
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