Crossing from Zarzis to Lampedusa. Slah, father of five, left the southern coastal city of Zarzis in Tunisia en route for Europe in the hope of finding work to be able to support his family. Slah, who had been buying goods on the Libyan border to stock his sports goods market stand, found it impossible to continue the business after the Libyan uprising. The 48-year old Slah embarked on a 15-day odyssey on March 17th - crowded aboard a 16-m fishing boat with over 100 other Tunisian refugees - bound for Lampedusa. The perilous 152-mile (280 km) crossing took 22 hours and cost 2000 dinars (1020 euros). On he Sicilian island he was among thousands of other Tunisians seeking to flee to Europe. After the first five days sleeping on the ground in the port area, Slah was moved to the island's detention center. He was later transferred by Italian authorities to Bari where he spent 48 hours in another refugee center. From there he took a train via Milan to Ventimiglia on the French border. It then cost 150 euros for a car to drive him and two other refugees across the border to Saint Raphael. From this southern city Slah was but a four-and-a-half hour TGV train ride from Paris - his final destination - and his brother Maki. March, 2011.