Another Story

Back in February I brought you just one story of one Ghanaian. Now I am bringing you another. I met this particular friend at The Last Stop drinking spot and restaurant in Fijai not from Moreau House in Butumagyebu.

Amos – 22 years

“At the first place, I am a young man and I am living with my parents. I schooled at St. Mary’s Boys Senior Secondary School in the Western Region when I was 18 years old.”

“When I was in school, I had an argument with my teachers in school. Having finished not knowing that the teachers had seen us. So they called us and we pretended as if we had not done anything wrong. We tried to defend ourselves but they still sacked us from the school. When I came back home I decided that I would not go back to school again.”

Amos got himself involved in some other bad activities. While he was at St. Mary’s school he became a habitual marijuana smoker. He also told me that he drank alcohol regularly during his first and second years of school.

It was what Amos did after he was sacked from school that really grabbed my attention. Instead of trying to find a way to get back into school or even go somewhere else he decided that he would leave Ghana behind.

In our conversations he would tell me how much he loves Ghana, but then when we talks about Europe or the States he dismisses everything that he previously said.

So one day, after much planning and exchanging of money, Amos jumped ship just off the coast of Takoradi and was headed for Spain, or so he thought. The ship ended up stopping in Abidjan, The Ivory Coast. Luckily he was able to stay on board, but at the next stop he was not as lucky.

Amos, a few other Ghanaians, and a few Nigerians were discovered and thrown off of the ship at Monrovia, Liberia during Liberia’s civil war. Amos spent a few days hiding in the bush before he could get back on another ship. He didn’t want to talk much about his experience there, but he just said that people were dying all around him. He didn’t know how he had survived. He told me that he didn’t sleep for the entire time that he was there.

After his miraculous escape from Liberia Amos finally made it to Spain. He was in Madrid for three days before he was caught by immigration and deported. He told me how depressed he was when he had to return to Ghana. He said, “I no go back to that ****** poor country man!”

“The reasons why I would like to go to Spain and leave Ghana is that staying in Ghana is not easy. You will struggle before you prosper or gain what you want. I know that all human beings struggle before he/she will prosper but staying in Ghana to get something is not easy… In the future I want to be a surveyor to help mother Ghana and also my family.”

About three or four weeks after I met Amos he quit his job at the bar/restaurant. Amos refused to do something that his supervisor asked him to do and then he walked out. At his job he was being paid 60 Ghana Cedis a month and was also put on the National Health Insurance Plan. Many young Ghanaians would do anything for a job like that.

It has been about a month and a half since I have seen or hear from Amos.

Last week one of the other workers at the place gave a me a sheet of paper and said it was from Amos. It was his reflections on some of the things that we talked about, but he left no phone number to call.