Fire at Sea Page #2

but like that I can't see it.

All right.

Look here.

Is that better or worse?

- Still looking at the lines?

- Yes, the first letter.

I can't see it, it's worse.

- This one?

- D.

When you hunt with your slingshot...

- Do you close an eye?

- This one.

- That is, you close the lazy one.

- Yes.

That's why you didn't notice.

I close this one like this.

You've never noticed

because you close your left eye.

- Do you ever close the right one?

- No.

Because you're used to it.

My boy,

we have a problem with this eye:

it's a lazy eye.

You know what a lazy eye is?

It's an eye

that doesn't work, it's lazy.

So, your brain doesn't receive

images from the left eye,

so we have to force it

to use the left eye,

therefore,

for a more or less brief period

we'll wear a patch on the good eye.

- What kind of patch?

- An adhesive eye patch.

- Over the pupil?

- Over the eye.

On the sick one or on this one?

On the good one,

that way we'll force your brain

to use the lazy eye and make it work.

It's a bit hard,

I don't know how to use it.

We have to slowly get used to it.

This is my testimony.

We could no longer stay in Nigeria.

Many were dying, most were bombed.

We were bombed,

and we flee from Nigeria,

we ran to the desert,

we went Sahara Desert and many died.

In Sahara Desert many were dying.

Raping and killing many people

and we could not stay.

We flee to Libya.

And Libya was a city of ISIS

and Libya was a place not to stay.

We cried on our knees,

"What shall we do?"

The mountains could not hide us,

the people could not hide us

and we ran to the sea.

On the journey on the sea,

too many passengers died.

They got lost in the sea.

A boat was carrying 90 passengers.

Only 30 were rescued

and the rest died.

Today we are alive.

The sea is not a place to pass by.

The sea is not a road.

Oh, but today we are alive.

It is risky in life

not to take a risk,

because life itself is a risk.

We stayed for many weeks

in Sahara Desert.

Many were dying with hunger,

many were drinking their piss.

All, to survive,

we drank our piss to survive

because that was the journey of life.

We stayed in the desert,

the water finished.

We began to drink our piss.

We said, "God,

don't let us die in the desert."

And we got to Libya

and Libyans would not pity us.

They would not save us

because we are Africans.

And they locked us in their prisons.

Many went to prison for one year.

Many went to prison for six years,

many died in the prison.

Libya prison was very terrible.

No food in the prison.

Every day beating, no water

and many of us escape.

And today we are here, God rescue us.

Without risk we enter the sea.

If we cannot die in Libyan prison,

we cannot die in the sea.

And we went to sea and did not die.

With this swell...

I threw up everything.

Have you ever thrown up

when you're out at sea?

Did you ever throw up out at sea,

when you were a kid?

I didn't throw up,

but I've been sick.

- Never threw up?

- No.

I get sick and I throw up too.

You're still young, Samuele.

You're still young.

You need to start going

on the pontoon.

When there's a swell.

Instead of playing

with your slingshot,

go to the pontoon

to build up your stomach.

All right.

So you can go to sea

with no problems.

With your stomach used to it.

Being on land or at sea

will be the same.

There were 840 on this boat.

These were the ones in first class,

they were outside,

they paid $1,500.

Then there were those

in second class,

here in the middle,

they paid 1,000,

then, I didn't know this,

down in the hold

there were so many,

they paid $800,

they were the third class.

When I got them ashore

there was no end to them.

No end.

Hundreds of women and children

were in bad shape,

especially in the hold,

they'd been at sea for seven days.

They were dehydrated,

malnourished,

exhausted.

I brought 68 to the emergency room,

they were in bad shape.

This is a young boy

all covered in burns,

he's very young, 14, 15 at the most.

We see so many of these,

they're chemical burns,

from the fuel.

They put them on unsound rubber boats

and during the journey they have

to fill jerry cans with fuel.

The fuel spills onto the floor

and mixes with the sea water,

then their clothes get soaked

and this mixture is harmful,

it causes these very serious burns

that give us a hard time

and give us a lot of work to do

and that unfortunately leave marks,

that can be fatal.

There.

It's the duty of every human being,

if you're human,

to help these people.

When we succeed we're happy.

We're glad

we could help them out.

At times, unfortunately,

it's not possible.

So, I have to witness awful things:

dead bodies, children...

On these occasions,

I am forced to do

the thing I hate most:

examining cadavers.

I've done so many,

maybe too many.

Many of my colleagues say,

"You've seen so many...

You're used to it."

It's not true.

How can you get used to seeing

dead children, pregnant women,

women who've given birth

on sinking boats,

umbilical cords still attached.

You put them in the bags, coffins,

you have to take samples,

you have to cut off

a finger or a rib,

you have to cut the ear off a child.

Even after death, another affront.

But it has to be done, so I do it.

All this leaves you so angry,

it leaves you with emptiness

in your gut, a hole.

It makes you think,

dream about them,

these are the nightmares I relive

often...

Often.

After Somalia.

Libya, after Libya, Sudan.

After Sudan other countries.

We cancel the game, nobody play.

- Libya.

- Libya!

No Somalia, no Sudan.

Somalia, out. Sudan, out.

Go, Syria!

Go, Eritrea!

Syria! Syria!

Hello?

Auntie Maria!

All good.

Yes.

Wife Maria

for her husband Giacomino

with lots and lots...

of love.

"The Cart Driver's Loves", yes.

Yes.

Now I'll play it.

My best to Uncle Giacomino.

Bye, Auntie Maria.

We have another song dedication.

Wife Maria for her husband Giacomino

dedicates with lots and lots of love

"The Cart Driver's Loves".

Come on, you can do it.

I couldn't find D.

D? It has to be there, Samuele.

Here.

- I can't see, my glasses.

- Take them off.

Because it's written small.

"Delighted".

It begins with D and E...

- It's here, don't turn.

- Wait!

- Have you found D?

- Yes.

Do you think this is a D?

No, of course not.

Look, it's on page 213.

Found it?

- Happy.

- Happy, perfect.

Glad, not exactly happy, but...

Glad.

"Depressed"?

Depressed, unhappy.

But you have to read it, come on.

"Impatient".

- Impatient.

- Good.

Then?

"Jealous".

Jealous.

"Shocked".

- What could it mean?

- Shocked?

Frightened.

Shocked.

I am shocked by your preparation,

we are all shocked

by the class' preparation, right?

"Stressed".

Stressed.

Come on, row.

Don't hit my boat.

I'll move now, come on.

Keep rowing forward.

Or else you'll never be

a sailor, row!

In Lampedusa, we're all sailors.

Row, row.

Forward.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes