Mussie Zerai Lifeline for Refugees

Mussie Zerai or “Father Moses,” left his native homeland Eritrea, an oppressive military regime, in hopes to secure asylum in Rome. A British priest aided Zerai and ever since he has dedicated his life to helping other migrants and refugees.

For more than a decade, Zerai has helped thousands of migrants on their way to Europe, working with the navy and coast guard to save boats in distress. Back in 2003, he created an emergency call center to help deal with the influx of migrants.

This Catholic priest is a critic of visa policies, stating they are restrictive and come with many deep-rooted prejudices. Instead, Zerai sees no refugee or migrant as “illegal" and advocates for solutions to the problems that make people flee their country. He wants to create more humane policies that allow migrants to reach safer places or to make lasting changes in their home countries.

In 2015, Zerai was nominated by the Peace Research Institute Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, in 2016, he was named one of the “top 100 influential people in the world,” by Time magazine.

As Zerai is from Eritrea, where the naming convention uses the father’s and even grandfathers first name as surnames instead of having a family name. While the given name is used to differentiate the child from others in the family with the same name.

The meaning of the name Mussie is unknown, but it comes from both Eritrea and Ethiopia as a given name.