Nabil, Walid, Wissem, Hamza, Ghassem, Samah, Housemdine: these are names, not numbers. In words and images, Sara Manisera and Arianna Pagani tell us the stories of the Tunisian women seeking truth and remembrance for their sons and husbands who have disappeared while attempting to reach Europe.
Sara Manisera (words) and Arianna Pagani (photographs), Tunis

On the road from Tunis to Bizerte, Quirtami starts to sing a love song. It is about a woman, as sensual as a doe, who is the object of a man’s passion, a man who has left for an unknown destination. “There are many songs about migration in Tunisia,” she explains with a melancholy smile, “because many are those who left never to return.”

Quirtami’s husband left for Italy on March 29, 2011, along with five other men from Sidi Mansour, a small town in the Sfax governorate, only 180 kilometres away from the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. An almost imperceptible distance for those who were dreaming of Europe, breathing the air of the revolution, and longing for a better job and a different life. Quirtami has not heard from him since.

“We are poor,” she says unapologetically. “And my husband wanted to find a job and earn more money for our children because they, too, want designer shoes, a cell phone, and all the things that you young people are after,” she continues in a voice that sounds like a reproach against the demands of modern youth.

The self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010, in response to the confiscation of his wares by a municipal official triggered a series of protests across Tunisia. The revolution led to the fall of Ben Ali’s régime on January 14, 2011. During the revolution and demonstrations, which were brutally repressed by the police, thousands of Tunisian citizens attempted to cross the Mediterranean. According to a research report by the Migration Policy Centre combined with data from the Ministry of Interior, 29,685 unauthorised Tunisians arrived in Italy by sea in 2011 alone, and 35,000 between 2011 and 2012. Among those, more than five hundred are missing.

https://openmigration.org/en/analyses/tunisian-women-fight-for-their-sons-and-husbands-gone-missing-on-their-journey-to-europe/