They spoke of the agent, or connection man, who extorted them at every turn, forcing them to work at rest spots along the road. They described discovering human skeletons and the belongings of forgotten travellers strewn throughout the desert.
One stored his money in an empty toothpaste tube to keep it safe from militias and robbers who might stop them on the road.
Often, African suffering is reduced to statistics, headlines and pity-inducing images. Meeting these men in their 20s had a profound effect on me.
During my research, I discovered novels that touched on the trans-Saharan migration crisis in general terms but not in great detail.
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