Young ? Ghanaians ? risk ?all for "better" life
加納年輕人為更好的生活而冒險(xiǎn)
Some migrate within Africa while others take the risky route to Europe
有些人選擇州內(nèi)移民烹棉,而一些人冒險(xiǎn)踏上去歐洲的艱難旅程
By Efam Awo ?Dovi
文:Efam Awo Dovi ? ?譯:畢冉
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.
每周鹊碍,在加納的主要糧食產(chǎn)地——布朗阿哈福地區(qū)汉嗽,都有車輛滿載著18至40歲的人姨伤,其中大多數(shù)是年輕的男性茴扁,有的人打算前往歐洲,而有人想要去非洲更富裕的國(guó)家。無(wú)論終點(diǎn)是何處巩趁,他們的期望是相同的:想要更好的工作和給自己及家鄉(xiāng)的親人更好的生活宗弯。
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.
幾年前脯燃,科菲·圖姆就有過(guò)這樣的經(jīng)歷。那時(shí)早年喪父的他只有18歲蒙保。他的母親是個(gè)僅能維持生計(jì)的農(nóng)民辕棚,成為了家里唯一的的支柱。圖姆初中畢業(yè)后就幫著母親沿街叫賣紅薯。而他們的生活狀況卻越來(lái)越差逝嚎,于是在六個(gè)孩子中排行第五的圖姆覺(jué)得他有必要去別處工作謀生扁瓢。
“I wanted to go to Italy to be able to support my mother,” Twum told Africa Renewal from his home in the town of Nkoranza in northern Ghana.
在他加納北部恩科蘭扎鎮(zhèn)的家里,圖姆告訴《非洲振興》的記者:“我想去意大利工作补君,這樣就能幫到我的母親”
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年引几,在哥哥的資助下,圖姆加入了一個(gè)由35個(gè)年輕人組成的隊(duì)伍挽铁,他們將穿過(guò)撒哈拉沙漠到利比亞伟桅,再坐船去歐洲。
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.
然而叽掘,當(dāng)他第三次嘗試乘上擁擠的船打算從利比亞穿越地中海時(shí)楣铁,他被逮捕并遣返回了加納。他一無(wú)所獲更扁。如今民褂,30歲的圖姆是一名街頭傳教士,他告訴《非洲振興》的記者他仍希望有一天可以到達(dá)歐洲疯潭,那時(shí)可得換個(gè)路線赊堪。
A hazardous journey
危險(xiǎn)四伏的旅途
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)的加納移民嘗試從布基納法索到尼日爾的阿加德茲市,然后再?gòu)睦葋喨ネ鶜W洲竖哩。在那里哭廉,他們和來(lái)自非洲西部和其他地區(qū)的移民匯合,這些移民是為了逃離沖突和迫害相叁。
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(guò)中間商遵绰,他們擠在車隊(duì)中超載的卡車上,但穿越撒哈拉沙漠直至利比亞邊界附近的波爾克地區(qū)這段路途則需要步行增淹。這可是一場(chǎng)生死考驗(yàn)椿访,許多人死于極度疲憊和脫水。
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.
圖姆回憶起漫天要價(jià)的人販子虑润,最讓人難以忘懷的是許多尸體被遺棄在炎熱的撒哈拉沙漠的場(chǎng)景成玫。他敘述道:“有些靠在石頭上,好像在睡覺(jué)拳喻,有些被沙子掩埋了”
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.”
圖姆的三個(gè)同伴死于途中哭当。他說(shuō):“當(dāng)他們無(wú)法繼續(xù)前行時(shí),我們會(huì)嘗試鼓勵(lì)他們冗澈,但沒(méi)一會(huì)兒我們就得放棄他們钦勘,因?yàn)槿绻絷?duì),很快就會(huì)死亚亲。死的都是我認(rèn)識(shí)的人彻采,我們一起從恩科蘭扎來(lái)的腐缤。到了黎波里之后會(huì)我打電話通知他們的家人「叵欤”
Twum’s story is all too common in the Brong Ahafo Region, with echoes across Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries. ?
圖姆的故事在布朗阿哈福地區(qū)隨處可見(jiàn)岭粤,回蕩在加納和非洲撒哈拉邊境地區(qū)。
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(guó)際移民組織(IOM)加納辦事處統(tǒng)計(jì)终惑,在2011年利比亞危機(jī)和穆阿邁爾·卡扎菲政府瓦解中绍在,利比亞境內(nèi)超過(guò)18000名加納移民被驅(qū)逐出境。然而事實(shí)上雹有,回國(guó)人數(shù)可能更多偿渡,因?yàn)橐恍┮泼褚呀?jīng)在危機(jī)加劇前先逃離了利比亞。
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.
國(guó)際移民組織(IOM)對(duì)加納政府疏散難民的行動(dòng)給予了援助霸奕,他們表示大多數(shù)遣返人員被送回了他們的家鄉(xiāng)布朗阿哈福地區(qū)溜宽。
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(duì)布朗阿哈福地區(qū)的許多家庭來(lái)說(shuō),在歐洲的親戚不僅為他們帶來(lái)了聲望质帅,還有匯款适揉。加納內(nèi)政移民部部長(zhǎng)沃爾特·科沃安那提說(shuō):“每個(gè)家庭都希望有親戚在歐洲∶撼停”
In some cases, he adds, “There is community support for relatives to leave, because your family will be looked down upon if no one has left for Europe.”
在一些情況下嫉嘀,他補(bǔ)充到:“社區(qū)會(huì)給有親戚在歐洲的人提供幫助,因?yàn)槟銈兗乙粋€(gè)在歐洲的親戚都沒(méi)有就會(huì)被人看不起魄揉〖粑辏”
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.
當(dāng)然還有一部分原因是人們期望從在歐洲的親戚那里得到經(jīng)濟(jì)援助,這樣可以提高家庭生活條件洛退。據(jù)非洲發(fā)展銀行2015年非洲經(jīng)濟(jì)展望報(bào)告瓣俯,匯款額達(dá)640億美元,是非洲外來(lái)資金最穩(wěn)定和最重要的唯一來(lái)源兵怯。
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.”
但這份聲望的表面下卻隱藏著更大的國(guó)家發(fā)展問(wèn)題彩匕。科沃安那提承認(rèn)媒区,就加納而言驼仪,“貧窮是人們移民尋求財(cái)富的主要原因之一”