Fatmata, a 28-year-old girl from Sierra Leone, burst into tears as she recalled six months of being "sex slaves" for the nomad in Sahara.

"They call him Ahmed. He is very big and cruel," recalls Fatmata, a 28-year-old girl living in the capital Freetown of Sierra Leone. "He said 'You are a slave, you are black, people like you are just from hell'."

Ahmed, a nomadic man in the Sahara desert, had Fatmata enslaved in the name of "wife". He told Fatmata that he had the right to do anything with a slave like her, and even invited friends to his house to "enjoy" her. "They torture me every day," Fatmata said.

After escaping from that prison compound, Fatmata completely abandoned his dream to Europe. She applied to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which helps migrants who want to return home.

Last December, Fatmata returned to Freetown by bus from Mali. But welcoming her is neither an emotional reunion, nor a greeting, nor a hug. Nearly a year has passed, Fatmata has not met his mother or his 8-year-old daughter.

"I was happy to be back. But now I wish I hadn't," Fatmata said. When he returned to his homeland, Fatmata called his brother, but his reaction disappointed her.

"He told me, you should not go home anymore. You should die where you went, because you didn't bring anything back." The 28-year-old woman's heart suddenly shattered, she no longer had the courage to go to see her mother.

But it is no coincidence that the Fatmata family did not welcome her. She stole 25 million leones (US $ 2,600) from her aunt to make money to cross the border into Europe. This is the money that aunt, who trusted Fatmata out of ink, gave her to buy clothes to resell.

"At that time I was just thinking about how to get money and go," Fatmata said, explaining that she was not a selfish man. "If I could go to Europe, I would earn three times that amount again. I would take good care of my aunt and mother."

But Fatmata did not make it to Europe, and her aunt's business fell apart since she took the money, not to mention the relationship between her and her mother was also dented. "I am heartbroken, very hurt," Fatmata's mother said. "The day I see him again, I will take him to the police station, and I will die."

Not only is the story of the Fatmata family alone, but of many of the more than 3,000 Sierra Leone families over the past two years, who have returned to their homeland after the "European dream" was broken.

Their relatives used to contribute money to help them realize their dream of a life change in Europe, but now they are not ready to do that anymore, as the stories of imprisonment or death along the migration route increase. Now, those who intend to emigrate to Europe will have to quietly carry out the plan, even "snatching the bear and shoulder" any amount they can, including pledging red books.

At the headquarters of the Abnormal Migration Network, a group of volunteers helps the returning immigrants rebuild their lives. All people who come here are "debtors" of family members.

Jamilatu, 21, escaped with Fatmata from the prison of traffickers in Algeria, took his mother's $ 3,500 before leaving home, hoping to realize the European dream.

This was not her mother's money, but the "surnamed" money of her neighbors. After Jamilatu's departure, creditors angrily besieged her mother's home, threatening to kill her if she didn't pay her back. Jamilatu's mother fled to Bo, about 3 hours away from home in the south, leaving her husband and three children behind.

"Mom doesn't want to talk to me, for money," Jamilatu said. "So when I returned, I didn't see her for more than two years, although I really wanted to see her."

But Maryatu, Jamilatu's mother, said she wanted to see her daughter again, despite the suffering she had caused. The short reunion of the mother and daughter took place in silence. Jamilatu knelt in front of her mother, begging for forgiveness, then she returned to Freetown.

The 21-year-old girl said she was the happiest person on Earth that day because she had seen her mother, but she looked unhappy. Her mother said they could not live together until Jamilatu contributed enough money to pay the creditors.

But repayment is not easy, because both Jamilatu and Fatmata have no jobs. The two now depend on the help of the Extraordinary Migration Advocacy Network, founded by Sheku Bangura, who is also a returning emigrant.

The organization currently receives very little support from the government, mainly finding shelter for the homeless and asking police to intervene when there is a legal problem, and provide basic psychological counseling for those who are homeless. Migrants fail.

"I have met a lot of migrants who have psychological problems. Young people on the street, they have no place to sleep, it's not easy," Bangura said.

Alimamy, 31, is a member of the Abnormal Migration Network. The young man once stole an uncle's automatic filling machine and wandered across the Sahara three years ago to find his way to Europe.

One of Alimamy's two companions died starving in the desert, the second drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean with a small boat. Alimamy was imprisoned in Libya and rescued in November 2017, when IOM organized repatriation trips from Tripoli to West Africa for migrants wishing to return.

Because of exhaustion, Alimamy accepted to return, but he feared not welcome. "I thought I should not go back to Sierra Leone because my uncle is very strict," Alimamy said. Since returning home, Alimamy has lived with friends. Alimamy's brother, Sheik Umar, a former professional footballer, said the family already knew the younger brother was in Freetown, but did not dare to face his relatives.

Umar also said he used to be close to his brother, but if he shows up now, he ensures his brother will "be arrested, prosecuted and sentenced". "If he died in jail, I would not regret it. I am sure no one in my house will regret the shame it has caused to all of us."

Umar said the business his uncle had left Alimamy with was able to support the whole family. "But it wasted that opportunity and now we're all in this mess. Now I'm going to be mocked everywhere I go. My mom got sick and had to move back to her hometown. That's their source of income." But Alimamy ruined everything. "

Alimamy himself was angry and disappointed. He said he had returned home but people regarded him as an "invisible man". "The place where I live is like a hell. The way people look at me makes me unhappy. They treat me as if not human."

IOM granted voluntary African immigrants a "reintegration allowance" of around 1,500 euros, deducted from the 349 million euro fund funded by the European Union (EU). But these allowances are not paid in cash, because if they do, most migrants will use them to pay their relatives' debt. Therefore, IOM pays for goods or services that migrants need to make a living, after they have proven their need.

Alimamy has a grant to buy a rental motorbike. But after only 4 months, the person who rented his car was "one go away". Fatmata and Jamilatu do not receive benefits, as many other Sierra Leonans pretend to be migrants returning from the Sahara to receive benefits. As a result, all those who returned from Mali were cut this money.

Now, all three people, Alimamy, Fatmata and Jamilatu, are participating in awareness raising campaigns in the Abnormal Migration Network. They went down the street, carrying banners and loudspeakers, warning young people about the dangers of illegal migration, calling for a "sweet Sierra Leone". But for them, their homeland is no longer sweet.