He arrived on a Wednesday, market day, carrying only a change of clothes and the equivalent of $33. When darkness fell, he spotted children reading Arabic outside a big house. He went inside and asked for help from the teacher. Arouna now lives there with three other boys, sleeping on a mattress made of rice stalks.

He thinks about his brothers often — about Amadou, the strict one, always trying to discipline him, and Gibbe, the jokester, always playing pranks.

Once, Arouna accompanied Gibbe to the fields. He turned his back and Gibbe disappeared, hiding in a tree. He made baboon noises and pounced on Arouna, who was terrified and ran away.

“Everyone laughed when we told them what happened,” Arouna said, giggling so hard he could barely continue talking.

Arouna hasn’t seen his parents for six months. He sends a bit of money to them from time to time. It’s not enough.

“I am the only remaining son now,” he said. “I have to support the family.”

Arouna knows well the dangers of the trip to Europe. One of his friends from home also tried the trip not long ago and died in Libya.

Eventually, Arouna says, he will go to Gabon or Congo, to work in the mines.

“It’s not risky there like Libya,” he said.