Father of eight-year-old African boy who travelled 3,500 miles alone to Italy so he could 'go to school' says 'I would give anything to see him again' but tells him to 'get an education and make a life for yourself'

The father of an eight-year-old boy who travelled an astonishing 3,500 miles from Africa to Europe alone so he could ‘go to school’ has told his son to ‘stay there and get an education’.

Oumar decided he had to leave his tiny village near Tambaga in the west of Mali after an attack on his hometown four months ago.

He walked through the Sahara desert and spent time in prison before finally boarding a dinghy to try and cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe.

He was picked up by humanitarian vessel called Ocean Viking earlier this month in the Mediterranean as he crossed from Libya to Italy with almost 100 others in a dinghy.

The ship then sailed to the Italian port of Ancona on the Adriatic Sea, where he was picked up by volunteers and put into temporary accommodation with other children.

Now MailOnline has tracked down his father, who gave his name only as Moussa, after he and his family fled their village following the jihadi terror attack in November.

After being told his son was safe and well and being cared for by a children’s charity in the Italian port of Ancona, he wept tears of joy.

He said: ’I’m so happy he is alive, he is my oldest child, I have another son but we didn’t know what had happened to Oumar after the terrorists attacked.

‘He is a good boy, and he never gave us any trouble, we miss him but my message to him is stay where you are, there in Italy you are safe, here there is war and danger.

‘Oumar enjoyed going to school and was good in class, he could read and write, and was clever for his age, his teacher was very happy with him.

‘I would give anything to see my son again but for now he should stay where he is, get an education and make a life for himself, he can see us when he is older.

‘He will have the chance to make a good life for himself in Italy, if he stayed here who knows what would have happened, it is so dangerous with the war.

‘I want to thank the people who saved him and who are looking after him, they have my gratitude for ever.’

Moussa, who with wife Aba was living in Tambaga, said: ’We had to run away from the village because it was attacked and we got separated and we had no news from Oumar.

‘I had given him my mobile telephone number and he remembered it – when he was rescued he gave it to the people on the ship and when he got off we had a brief talk.

‘But I hadn’t heard from him in days until you called me now to say he was doing well, so I thank you as well for your help.’

Oumar is now in a shelter in Ancona run by Alessandro Fucili which takes in children in difficult circumstances and within a week has made friends and learnt basic Italian.

MailOnline was invited into the project and watched as Oumar smiled and played with other children, laughing, and joking as they played tag in a nearby park.

From a nearby cliff top, Oumar gazed out to sea with a pair of binoculars rescuers had given him as a present, sharing them with the other children and shouting in French, ‘la mer, la mer’ (the sea, the sea).

Alessandro said: ’The best way for him to get used to his new environment is have other children around him, the time for talking to adults will come later.

‘For now, it is just better for him that he takes it easy and gets used to his new surroundings – he is a clever child and educationally very advanced.

‘When we gave him a pen and some paper, he wrote his name and within a few days he was counting to twenty in Italian and learning basic words.

‘He wants to go to school, and we are speaking in basic French, and I told him that after Easter, I would send him, maybe for just a couple of hours a day to begin with.’

Alessandro is reluctant for Oumar to talk about his incredible journey and told MailOnline: ’The other day for the first time since he arrived, he had nightmares.

‘He woke up screaming and the girl sharing the dormitory with him woke him up and gave him a hug to calm him down.’

Oumar’s harrowing story emerged earlier this month after the Ocean Viking arrived in Ancona following a three-day voyage from just off the coast of Libya.

He told astonished rescuers he left Mali in November and made his way across Africa to Libya with a friend and made an initial attempt but were caught by Libyan coastguards.

The pair were thrown into a Libyan jail at Ain Zara before managing to escape, hidden in a rubbish truck before getting on a dinghy heading for Europe.

Oumar told his rescuers he had earned money working as a painter and welder to scrape enough money to live on.

He added that being in Libya ‘was hard’ because he was ‘black’.

Oumar and his family fled his village after a jihadist group attacked the area and they were separated.

He carried on walking and eventually ended up in Libya where he worked for several weeks before making a first failed attempt to cross the sea.

Libyan coastguards picked him up and threw him into jail before he managed to escape in the rubbish truck.

While in jail he was beaten and suffered a fractured foot which was diagnosed by doctors in Italy.

Alessandro explained: ’The injury was caused while he was in prison, he has to wear a plaster for two weeks, but it hasn’t stopped him running around and playing football.

‘When we sat him down in front of a computer and showed him a map of the world, he was able to find Mali and we showed him some pictures of his village.

‘He saw the town hall and kept shouting ‘ecole, ecole’ which is French for school, and he said that was where he went for lessons.

‘He was able to remember some of the names of the nearby villages, but I don’t want to push him too much, especially after he had nightmares the other night.’

All that is known of his journey is that he earned money while in Libya welding and painting but how much he paid to get into the dinghy or who he paid is unknown.

Alessandro said: ’Now is not the time for memories because they will certainly be bad ones for him, now is just the time for him to play and have fun with other children.’

Since his arrival the charity – called CEIS – the centre has been flooded with calls from people asking how they can adopt Oumar.

Alessandro said: ’After the story was in the media, he became a real talking point and I had media from all over the world calling and asking about him.

‘We also had calls from people saying they wanted to adopt him but it’s not that easy and for two days we just didn’t answer the phone.

‘It’s now up to the local family court to appoint a guardian and then eventually a foster family for him.

‘We are using a volunteer who speaks Bambara (Mali language) but he is making progress in Italian and within a few months, kids being kids, I expect him to be fluent.’

Alessandro added: ’He will stay with us until the end of the summer I suspect, so that a family can be found and then he will leave and live with them.

‘He will get an education and he will learn and then after that, when he is an adult who knows. Perhaps he will go back to Mali to see his parents.

‘But for now what is important for us and him is to make him welcome and keep that lovely smile on his face.’