Sally Hayden, an investigative journalist, was at home in London one evening when she received a Facebook message: “Hi sister Sally, we need your help”. The sender was an Eritrean refugee, who, along with hundreds of others, had been detained for months in a Libyan detention centre.
It is the starting point for Hayden's shocking investigation into the refugee crisis in North Africa. Based on hundreds of interviews with detainees who tried to reach Europe but instead found them stuck in hellish conditions in Libya, My Fourth Time, We Drowned is an impressive indictment of the negligence of Europe, the corruption within the United Nations, and the 21st century slave trade economy.
But above all, it is an ode to human resilience, and how we do not give up hope even under the most appalling circumstances.
Hayden is currently Africa Correspondent for The Irish Times.