{"id":4803,"date":"2015-10-16T02:17:46","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T02:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2015-10-16T02:22:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T02:22:15","slug":"meet-the-nobel-nominated-priest-who-rescues-african-refugees-from-mediterranean-oct-15-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/10\/16\/meet-the-nobel-nominated-priest-who-rescues-african-refugees-from-mediterranean-oct-15-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Nobel-nominated priest who rescues African refugees from Mediterranean  Oct. 15, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"block-delta-blocks-page-title\" class=\"block block-delta-blocks block-page-title block-delta-blocks-page-title odd block-without-title\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"block-views-4387fd0aeb29d43d20f56e9c993756bf\" class=\"block block-views block-4387fd0aeb29d43d20f56e9c993756bf block-views-4387fd0aeb29d43d20f56e9c993756bf even block-without-title\">\n<div class=\"block-inner clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content clearfix\">\n<div class=\"view view-article-lead-image-slideshow view-id-article_lead_image_slideshow view-display-id-block view-dom-id-c97d3782bb3449c28d90638050a05e99\">\n<div class=\"view-content\">\n<div class=\"skin-default\">\n<div id=\"flexslider_views_slideshow_main_article_lead_image_slideshow-block\" class=\"flexslider_views_slideshow_main views_slideshow_main flexslider_views_slideshow-processed\">\n<div class=\"flex-nav-container\">\n<div class=\"flexslider flexslider-processed\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/ncronline.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/article_slideshow\/public\/stories\/images\/RNS-ERITREA-PRIEST101315%20%28690x475%29.jpg?itok=6szeQuO1\" alt=\"\" width=\"473\" height=\"295\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"cutline\">Eritrean priest Mussie Zerai gestures during an interview in front of St. Peter\u2019s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2015. Zerai, who has helped some of the thousands of African migrants who have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea, was among the nominees for this year\u2019s Nobel Peace Prize. (Religion News Service, photo courtesy of REUTERS\/Alessandro Bianchi)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"block-system-main\" class=\"block block-system block-main block-system-main odd block-without-title\">\n<div class=\"block-inner clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content clearfix\">\n<article id=\"node-news-112416\" class=\"node node-news node-published node-not-promoted node-not-sticky author-tracy-abeln odd clearfix\">\n<div class=\"articlebyline\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\n<nav class=\"top links node-links clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden\">\u00a0A surge of migrant deaths in deadly voyages across the Mediterranean Sea has become a modern-day refugee crisis.<\/div>\n<section class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">But the Rev. Mussie Zerai, a 40-year-old Roman Catholic priest from tiny Eritrea, north of Ethiopia, has moved to help migrants trapped in the North African deserts and rickety wooden boats drifting across the sea.\u201cIt is my duty and moral obligation as a priest to help these people. For me it\u2019s simple: Jesus said we must love one another as we love ourselves,\u201d Zerai said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n<p>The little-known priest, now based in\u00a0Rome and Switzerland, was among this year\u2019s nominees for the 2015\u00a0Nobel Peace Prize, along with Pope Francis. (The\u00a0prize, announced Friday, was awarded to the<a href=\"http:\/\/ncronline.org\/blogs\/ncr-today\/nobel-prize-victory-tunisian-democracy\" target=\"_blank\">National Dialogue Quartet<\/a>, which helped build a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia.)<\/p>\n<p>Zerai runs a center that receives calls from distressed migrants who have fled their countries in hopes of finding a better life in Europe. He\u00a0relays refugees\u2019\u00a0GPS coordinates to coast guard and naval authorities so they can launch rescue operations.<\/p>\n<div id=\"region-incontent\">\n<div id=\"block-block-51\" class=\"block block-block block-51 block-block-51 odd block-without-title\">\n<div class=\"block-inner clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content clearfix\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Most of the migrants are from Syria, the horn of Africa and sub-Saharan Africa and are fleeing political and social situations in their countries of origin. Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis make up most of their numbers. They usually attempt to cross to Italy through Libya, Egypt and Morocco.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of them are fleeing war, religious, political and ethnic persecution. Then, there are\u00a0dictatorships and poverty which are causing this exodus,\u201d said Zerai.<\/p>\n<p>In North Africa, some of the migrants are captured by traffickers who seek ransoms from their families. Those who cannot pay\u00a0ransom are sold to those\u00a0who harvest\u00a0organs for illegal transplants.<\/p>\n<p>In the Mediterranean, 3,000 migrants on the voyages have died this year so far, according to the International Organization for Migration. Observers say the number of deaths is\u00a0expected to increase\u00a0as the cold season approaches.<\/p>\n<p>Zerai, who was born in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, says he found himself a refugee at the age of 17. From his experience as a migrant in Italy, Zerai started getting involved in campaigns for the human rights of refugees. His work strengthened when he was studying philosophy at the Pontifical Urban University from 2000 to 2003.<\/p>\n<p>In 2003, he gave his mobile\u00a0phone number to migrants after helping an Italian journalist interview refugees in prison in Libya, during the reign of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi. From then on, migrants began spreading the word to call Zerai\u2019s\u00a0number for help.<\/p>\n<p>Through Agenzia Habeshia, the charitable trust he set up in 2006 to campaign for refugee rights in North Africa and to help others in Italy get asylum, Zerai has saved thousands of migrants.<\/p>\n<p>When he receives the calls, the priest finds the GPS coordinates\u00a0of the caller\u2019s phone and then shares\u00a0the location with the Italian and Maltese coast guard in the Mediterranean. Through his hotline, many have been saved.<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, he was ordained a Catholic priest after studying theology for five years and then social morality at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Zerai is concerned that the world\u2019s response to the crisis has been inadequate and most times coming too late. He recalls the time in 2011 when he received an SOS from a boat with 72 migrants that had drifted out to\u00a0sea. The people were without food, medicines or water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took 15 days for rescue to arrive. By this time about 90 percent of the migrants had died,\u201d said Zerai, calling it one of the lowest moments in his life. \u201cI am still pursuing justice for these migrants, because I think it is NATO\u2019s role to protect the migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also is pushing for a \u201chumanitarian corridor,\u201d safe routes of passage\u00a0for migrants so they can get visas in European countries.<\/p>\n<p>For him, African governments must make greater efforts to protect their children and grant more rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the migration will only end when there is\u00a0more justice, less corruption and abuse of power that oppresses the masses for the benefit of few in power or the rich who buy the power,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Zerai said he was happy to have been nominated for the peace prize. \u201cIt is great reward for my service to refugees. Above all, it is a recognition of the seriousness of the situation of the refugees coming from sub-Saharan Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>[Fredrick Nzwili is a journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. For more than 15 years, he has written about religion, politics, peace and conflict, development, security, environment and wildlife.]<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eritrean priest Mussie Zerai gestures during an interview in front of St. Peter\u2019s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2015. Zerai, who has helped some of the thousands of African migrants who have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea, was among the nominees for this year\u2019s Nobel Peace Prize. (Religion News Service, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet the Nobel-nominated priest who rescues African refugees from Mediterranean Oct. 15, 2015 - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Nobel-nominated priest who rescues African refugees from Mediterranean Oct. 15, 2015 - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eritrean priest Mussie Zerai gestures during an interview in front of St. Peter\u2019s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2015. 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