Awale is one of 165 Somali migrants recently repatriated after being detained in Libya, where the International Organization for Migration says those caught on journeys to Europe face “unacceptable and inhumane conditions.”
Awale undertook a more than 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) journey, leaving Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, to cross Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan.
He was captured by smugglers near the Sudan-Libyan border and taken to the Sahara oasis town of Kufra, where captors filmed him being tortured in a bid to extract a ransom from his family.
“Torture became normal,” Awale said. “If you failed to pay, they beat you until you fainted. Some people lost their minds. Others didn’t survive.”
Unable to afford the ransom, his mother, Hawo Elmo Rage, turned to social media, pleading with Somalis at home and abroad to help her save her son.
Awale was released from Kufra and put in a car bound for the Mediterranean coast with other migrants. After their vehicle broke down, the group trekked for more than two weeks, facing starvation and dehydration.
“I thought we would die there,” Awale said.
The group was then detained outside of Tripoli, and Awale spent a month in prison in the coastal town of Sirte and another two months in detention in Tripoli before his repatriation to Somalia in November.
Awale became one of hundreds of thousands of Somalis that have fled the country in more than three decades of civil war, according to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, which estimates that another 3.5 million people are displaced within Somalia itself.
While most Somali refugees live in neighboring countries like Kenya, according to UNHCR, many like Awale have been inspired to seek a future in the West. Awale said that he dreamed of moving to the U.S. since he was a child.
“I want him to stay,” his mother said. “But I know he wishes for a better life. I pray God gives him a safe future— not the dangerous one he found.”
Changes to immigration policy this year under Trump administration changed the calculus of migrants like Awale. U.S. President Donald Trump banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of Somalia and 11 other countries in June — so Awale set his sights on Europe.
Awale remains hopeful that he will reach the U.S. one day, despite anti-Somali sentiment from the White House and a further tightening of immigration restrictions for Somalis.
The White House also announced this week that it was pausing all immigration applications for people from 19 countries, including Somalia.
“My dream was America, but I felt like Trump closed that door,” Awale said. “Maybe after Trump’s term ends.”