Eyasu Abraha, an I.T. specialist for the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat, Ethiopia, says since he was a child in northern Tigray state, he has witnessed three wars. He wants to leave Ethiopia for the sake of his children.
Muhammad Omar lived in Eritrea. After his father was conscripted into the army, Mr. Omar was never seen again. So, when Muhammad’s brother was due for conscription, the family fled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. But Muhammad’s brother wanted to migrate to Europe. Along the route, he was kidnapped and extorted. He later drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to make the crossing on a rickety boat.
Azale Gulilat, director of child protection for Jesuit Refugee Service in Ethiopia, says people are trying to leave Ethiopia, telling him it is better to die at sea than to stay there and die of hunger or chronic illness. He said more people have tried to migrate from Ethiopia since the United States and other countries cut off international funding to humanitarian aid organizations, including Jesuit Refugee Service.
Mr. Abraha attended an awareness-raising workshop organized by Talitha Kum, an international network of Catholic sisters that works to end human trafficking. Mr. Abraha says he understands the dangers of being trafficked if he leaves.
“I don’t think the risks of leaving are worse than the war,” he says. “I won’t stay here.”
Muhammad says despite being a little fearful that he will meet his brother’s fate, he, too, wants to leave.
“Some are successful in this journey, so I say, why not me?”
Learn more in this video, then read about how foreign aid cuts are complicating efforts to stem the tide of human trafficking in Ethiopia in “The Fallout” in the September 2025 issue of ONE Magazine.