Woman Recounts Drinking Urine to Survive After Escaping Alleged Trafficker in Mali

Woman Recounts Drinking Urine to Survive After Escaping Alleged Trafficker in Mali

A young Nigerian woman, Precious Godwin from Benin, Edo State, has recounted the harrowing ordeal she endured while crossing the Sahara Desert after fleeing an alleged trafficker in Mali, revealing that migrants were forced to drink urine to stay alive because they had no access to water.

Godwin shared her experience during an interview on the Abdullahi Tahir Balarae Podcast aired on Saturday, July 11, 2026.

According to her, she escaped from a woman she identified as Madam Gold in Bamako, Mali, before deciding to continue her journey towards Libya with the hope of eventually reaching Europe.

Describing the life-threatening conditions in the desert, Godwin said the travellers quickly ran out of water, leaving them severely dehydrated under the scorching Sahara sun.

“We didn’t have water. The boys with us were begging us to urinate and give them to drink. If we wanted to urinate, they would cut a jerrycan and beg us to urinate inside so they could drink. I drank my own urine in the desert,” she said.

She explained that the desperate circumstances reduced survival to the group’s only priority, with many migrants resorting to drinking urine in a bid to stay alive as they battled extreme heat and dehydration.

Godwin’s account highlights the perilous journeys undertaken by many irregular migrants across the Sahara Desert, where a lack of food, water, and medical care, coupled with harsh environmental conditions, has claimed countless lives over the years.

Her testimony also underscores the dangers associated with human trafficking and irregular migration routes through North Africa, often controlled by criminal networks that expose migrants to exploitation, abuse, and life-threatening conditions.

Woman Recounts Drinking Urine to Survive After Escaping Alleged Trafficker in Mali