I was at sea for 20 hours - 20 hours! And the boat was full of water."
18-year-old Thambo from Mali describes how he was rescued by the Italian Navy in international waters somewhere between Libya and Sicily. "The rescuers came, gave us life vests, got us out - they saved my life."
That was in June 2014. Today, Thambo and 37 other young Africans live in a refugee shelter run by the Caritas Catholic aid organization in a suburb of Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily. He had nothing when he arrived here from the admission camp on the coast. Now, he owns donated clothing and, most importantly, an old cell phone and headphones. He can listen to music or use the shelter's WiFi to access the Internet. Thambo can't phone home, though - too expensive - but he can send WhatsApp messages to his mother and friends in Mali. "I have still my mother. My father died - I'm not married like others here - and I've left my mother alone in Africa.