Young Ghanaians risk all for "better" life

加納年輕人的孤注一擲

Some migrate within Africa while others take the risky route to Europe

輾轉(zhuǎn)居于非洲，或冒險前往歐洲

By Efam Awo Dovi

Every week, in the Brong Ahafo Region — one of Ghana’s major food baskets — vehicles load up with men between 18 and 40 years old. Many, mostly the younger men, hope to reach Europe, while others head for more prosperous countries in Africa. Irrespective of their final destination, they have common aspirations: hopes of good jobs and better lives for themselves and the families they leave behind.

每一周锄列，在加納的一個主要食品基地布隆阿哈佛地區(qū)，交通工具上都擠滿了18至40歲的男人。很多人希望能去歐洲烧颖，尤其是年輕男人每瞒；而另一些人葵袭，則以那些比加納繁榮的非洲國家為目的地。撇開他們的不同目標(biāo)不談进统，這些人有著共同的渴望：渴望得到好的工作助币，渴望為自己、為身后的家人爭取更好的生活麻昼。

Kofi Twum made that trip years ago. He was only 18 and had lost his father at an early age. His mother, a subsistence farmer, became the sole breadwinner of the family. When Twum completed junior secondary school, he hawked yams to help his mother. But their living conditions worsened and Twum, fifth among six children, felt the need to work elsewhere.

科菲·圖溫姆數(shù)年前踏上了那一條道路奠支。當(dāng)年，他只有18歲抚芦，且父親早亡倍谜。他那掙扎在溫飽線上的農(nóng)民母親便成為了唯一養(yǎng)家糊口的人。圖溫姆完成初二血液后叉抡，便走街串巷尔崔、叫賣山芋來幫助母親。盡管如此褥民，他們的生活水平仍舊每況愈下季春，排行第五的圖溫姆覺得，自己應(yīng)該外出打工消返。

“I wanted to go to Italy to be able to support my mother,” Twum toldAfrica Renewalfrom his home in the town of Nkoranza in northern Ghana.

“我想去意大利工作载弄，來幫我媽，”圖溫姆對《非洲復(fù)興報》說撵颊∮罟ィ《非洲復(fù)興報》來自他的家鄉(xiāng)，北加納的柯蘭扎鎮(zhèn)倡勇。

In 2014, with financial support from his brother, Twum joined a group of 35 young men on a journey through the Sahara Desert to Libya, where they were to take a boat to Europe.

2014年逞刷，在哥哥的經(jīng)濟支持下，圖溫姆加入了一支35人的隊伍妻熊，穿越撒哈拉夸浅，到達了利比亞。他們打算從利比亞乘船去歐洲扔役。

However, hopping a crowded boat out of Libya on his third attempt to cross the Mediterranean, he was arrested and deported to Ghana. He arrived empty-handed. Twum, now a street preacher in his 30s, tells?Africa?Renewal that he still hopes to make it to Europe one day, this time by some other route.

然而帆喇，就在他第三次在利比亞登上一艘擁擠的小船，試圖橫渡地中海時亿胸，他被逮捕并強行遣返了加納番枚。他一無所獲。現(xiàn)在损敷，已過而立的圖溫姆葫笼，成為了一名街頭傳教士。他告訴《非洲復(fù)興報》拗馒，自己扔希望有一天能夠到達歐洲路星，而這一次，他會嘗試另一條道路。

A hazardous journey

一場冒險之旅

Most Ghanaian migrants trying to reach Europe via Libya go through Burkina Faso to Agadez, Niger. From there they join others from West Africa and other areas who are fleeing conflict and persecution.

大多數(shù)加納的移民都試圖途徑利比亞洋丐、穿越布基納法索呈昔，到達尼日爾的阿加德茲，從而抵達歐洲友绝。在阿加德茲堤尾，他們會與另一批人匯合在一起。這批人或是西非人迁客，或是來自其他地區(qū)的郭宝、在迫害中逃亡的人們。

With the services of middlemen, they travel on overloaded trucks in convoys and part of the way on foot through the Sahara Desert to the Borkou region near the Libyan border. It’s a death-defying experience. Many die from exhaustion and dehydration.

通過中間人的搭橋掷漱，他們有時搭載超載的卡車車隊粘室，有時徒步行進，跨越了撒哈拉卜范，來到靠近利比亞邊境的博爾庫衔统。這是一段視死如歸的旅程。許多人脫水而亡海雪，或是精疲力竭地死去锦爵。

Twum recalls the human traffickers and their extortionate demands for money. Also unforgettable was the sight of many lifeless bodies abandoned in the hot Saharan Desert. “Some were leaning on the rocks, they looked like they were sleeping, others were buried in the dust,” he recalled.

圖溫姆回想起人販子和他們對金錢的貪得無厭。同樣歷歷在目奥裸、難以忘懷的還有撒哈拉沙漠里被遺棄的尸體棉浸。“有些尸體靠在石頭上刺彩，看起來就像是睡著了一樣；還有一些枝恋，掩埋在沙子里创倔。”他回憶道焚碌。

Three of his fellow travellers died. “They couldn’t continue the walk. When that happens, we try to

encourage them, but after a while you have to leave them, because if you’re left behind you’ll lose your way, and you’ll soon die,” he said. “These were people I knew, we travelled together from Nkoronza. I called their families later from Tripoli to inform them.”

他的同伴中以三人失去了生命畦攘。“他們走不動了十电。那時候知押，我們試著鼓勵他們，但不久之后便不得不拋下他們鹃骂；因為一旦自己掉隊了，就會迷路，然后很快就會死去浴讯⊥旨幔”他說，“我認識他們寝殴，我們從柯蘭扎開始就一起趕路蒿叠。后來明垢，我在特里波利給他們家里打了電話，通知了他們市咽∪”

Twum’s story is all too common in the Brong Ahafo Region, with echoes across Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries.

在布隆阿哈佛地區(qū)，圖溫姆的故事實在太尋常了施绎，在整個加納乃至撒哈拉以南的非洲國家都時有發(fā)生溯革。

During the 2011 Libyan crisis and the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, more than 18,000 Ghanaian migrants in Libya were evacuated, according to the International Organization for

Migration (IOM) office in Ghana. The actual number of returnees, however, could be higher as some migrants managed to get out of Libya on their own before the crisis worsened.

根據(jù)國際移民者組織駐加納辦事處的數(shù)據(jù)，在2011年離異危機和推翻卡扎菲政權(quán)期間粘姜，有超過一萬八千名加納一名被撤離了利比亞鬓照。然而，實際上的歸國者數(shù)量可能超過這一數(shù)字孤紧，因為有些移民在事態(tài)惡化之前就自己逃離了利比亞豺裆。

The majority of the returnees were sent back to the Brong Ahafo Region, from which they came, according to the IOM, which supported the Ghanaian government in evacuating its stranded nationals.

在車?yán)镞^敏方面基于了加納政府支持的IOM組織表示，大部分回國的人已經(jīng)被送回了布隆阿哈佛地區(qū)号显，他們的家鄉(xiāng)臭猜。

For many families in Brong Ahafo, having a relative in Europe confers prestige and the prospect of

remittances. “Every household hopes to have someone in Europe,” says Walter Kwao-Anati, the director of migration at Ghana’s Ministry of the Interior.

對于布隆阿哈佛地區(qū)的許多家庭來說，有一個在歐洲的親戚便意味著家族的聲望和得到匯款的保障押蚤∶锔瑁“每一個家庭都希望能有個親戚在歐洲±康猓”加納內(nèi)政部移民局局長沃爾特·科瓦-阿那提表示次屠。

In some cases, he adds,“There is community support for relatives to leave, because your family will belooked down upon if no one has left for Europe.”

有的時候，他補充道雳刺，“會有社區(qū)資金支持親屬去歐洲劫灶，因為如果沒有一個人前往歐洲，整個家族都會為之蒙羞掖桦”净瑁”

And there is also the expectation of financial support to the family back home, which helps to improve the family’s living conditions. According to the African Development Bank’s African Economic Outlook 2015 report, remittances, at $64 billion in 2015, remain the most stable and important single source of external finance to Africa.

對于有人回來的家庭，也會有對金錢支持的期望枪汪，它會幫助提高這個家庭的生存條件涌穆。根據(jù)非洲發(fā)展銀行2015年的非洲經(jīng)濟發(fā)展綱要，2015年的國外匯款為640億美元雀久，這仍然是非洲外部融資最穩(wěn)定宿稀、最重要的單一來源。

But beneath the veil of perceived prestige are bigger national development issues. Kwao-Anati admits that in the case of Ghana, “Poverty is one of the major reasons why people migrate in search of economic opportunities.”?

但在引人注目的聲望的面紗下赖捌，隱含著更大的國家發(fā)展問題原叮。科瓦-阿那提承認，對于加納來說奋隶，“貧窮是人們移民國外擂送、尋找經(jīng)濟機遇的主要原因之一∥ㄐ溃”