Alva White gives eyewitness testimony from Aquarius, an MSF boat searching for and rescuing people in the Mediterranean Sea. Why do these people risk their lives in this way?

“This is where we meet people: in international waters around 25 nautical miles from the Libyan coast. They are always in boats that have no capacity to make the voyage on which they are embarked. Maria told us the day she was rescued was one of the most beautiful days of her life…

She left Cameroon with three other friends. They crossed the Sahara Desert with smugglers. Only two survived the dangerous journey. On arrival in Libya, she and her friend were forced into prostitution. They were told if they had sex with a certain number of men they would earn places on the flimsy, overcrowded, unseaworthy boat where we met them. The men beat them, she told us. Only Maria made it safely to our rescue boat.”

Tony Simpson, editor of The Spokesman journal, asks what part does climate change play in driving people from their homes.

Alva has been working on the MV Aquarius, a humanitarian search and rescue ship patrolling in the Mediterranean Sea, operated by SOS MEDITERRANEE and Médecins sans Frontières.

Tickets: £3.00 including refreshments. All proceeds to MSF