Waiting to return
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Tuoi tre reporters visited the UN Refugee Agency’s refugee camps located about 10 km from the Ras Jdir border between Libya and Tunisia and saw thousands of workers from Vietnam and other countries who had fled Tripoli and were anxiously waiting to go home.
They might have come from different backgrounds but these workers have gone through the same hunger and cold and fear of war on their flights to the refugee camps.
Vietnamese workers who have flocked to the Ras Jdir border in Tunisia are waiting for flights home
There were the two Sung brothers of the H’mong ethnicity who had arrived at the camps with a paralyzed brother after spending a few nights in the cold and rain outside, subsisting on bread and milk provided by international rescue organizations.
The road sign outside the Tunisian territory shows the refugees fleeing Libya the way to safety
Inside the camps that were warm and dry, they became homesick and restless and constantly wondered when they could go home.
Refugees jostle for the potatoes which staffs from international rescue agencies throw onto the crowd
Many Vietnamese refugees find solace in the national flag flying above their camp
Hoang Van Trung, 45 years old and from Thai Binh Province, returns home on crutches. Trung had an accident while working at a construction site. The civil war broke out and Trung had to flee Libya before he could collect compensations from his employer
Some workers have to drink from dirty puddles due to a shortage of clean water
Refugees fleeing Libya, many of whom are Vietnamese, are stopped by Tunisian border guards
Jostling for clean water
Refugees have to buy the local currency at exorbitant prices to have money for food and beverages while waiting to return home
A butter tin is used for cooking
Unable to wash his body due to lack of water, a refugee is contented with washing his hair
Refugees are waiting in line to receive food from a rescue agency
By Tuesday, the remaining workers still stranded in Libya will have left the African country.
