This piece was written by a Kenyan refugee, born to Somali parents who escaped Somalia.  She writes...

You have to understand that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.  No one burns their palms under trains beneath carriages, no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck feeding on newspaper, unless the miles travelled mean something more than the journey.  You only leave home when home won't let you stay.