Tunisia

Hello!

Here I am again. I stayed in Tunisia for a couple of days and the day after tomorrow I go to the next country: Italy! Here is an update about my stay in Tunisia:

I stayed in Djerba, more specific in Zarzis. The view that you have on the beach is really beautiful. But no one would ever think that a couple of days ago there took place a dramatic story! A ship, that was leaving the fishing port of Zarzis to go to Europe, was intercepted by the Tunisian coast guard. There were 120 people on board of the ship, some looking for work in Europe, some on their way to visit someone. The coast guard ordered the captain of the ship to stop and said the passengers should lay down on the ground. After that the coast guarders hit them and the ship turned into the water, upside down.

There was 1 survivor who wanted to tell his side of the facts. He saw a friend holding on to the ship and yelling that he didn’t want to die! Almost everyone who was on the ship is missing or drowned. He and his cousin survived the whole incident. He doesn’t know exactly how he and his cousin survived it. The only thing he knows is that they found some food and that the water was very cold.

The story that the government is telling is a whole other story! They say that the captain of the ship refused to stop and that they picked up 85 people who survived the whole incident. Only 5 people are dead.

In what a cruel world are we living?! That’s the question that came up in my head when I saw the video. The story that the man is telling sounds like something unreal, something that just cannot happen. These people were just looking for work in Europe or wanted to visit someone in Europe. They haven’t done anything wrong! The fact that the coast guard ordered the captain to stop is not that bad because the coast guard have to do his job also. But the fact that the coast guarders hit the people that were on the ship is just a terrible thing. I think that the guarders just take advantage of their position. And of course, the government is telling another story. They just don’t want to face the facts, the truth! They say that only 5 people are dead, but there are a lot of other people that argue this fact. I think that Tunisians face a tough journey in their hunt for safer shores.

I’m leaving Tunisia with a strange feeling. Everything looks so peaceful and quite. But on the other hand there is a lot of unrest among the people. I’ll talk to you soon when I’m in Italy!

Bye

Noerens Libera

The video I was talking about: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/02/18/curry.tunisia.survivors.cnn?iref=videosearch