Young Ghanaians risk all for "better" life
加納青年人為更好的生活孤注一擲
Some migrate within Africa while others take the risky route to Europe
有些只在非洲大陸遷居，有些則踏上前往歐洲的冒險旅程
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.
布朗阿哈福地區是加納主要的食物籃（food baskets）之一。在那里，每星期都有數量交通工具搭載著18到40歲之間的男人，他們當中的很多人（大部分都是年輕人）都希望能夠去歐洲，其余的那些則是前往非洲其他更加富裕的國家。盡管目的地各有不同，但愿景卻是一致的，那就是為自己尋求一份更好的工作，讓他們的家庭能夠過上更豐盈的生活。
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.
科菲特烏（Kofi Twum）在數年前就離開了家鄉，那時他只有18歲 。他在很小的時候就失去了父親，媽媽是個農民，收入只能勉強維持生計，也是這個家庭唯一的經濟來源。特烏完成初中學業以后就開始通過兜售山藥來幫助媽媽貼補家用。但是他們的生活卻每況愈下。特烏是家里六個孩子中的第五個，他感到自己有必要到其他地方找工作。
“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.
特烏的家鄉在加納北部的恩科蘭扎。他接受《非洲振興》的采訪時說：“我曾經很想去意大利，這樣我就能幫助我的媽媽了”。
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，特烏的哥哥給了他一筆錢，之后他和另外35個青年人穿過撒哈拉沙漠來到利比亞，他們打算從那坐船去歐洲。
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.
原本他以為搭載上一艘擁擠的船之后就能離開利比亞穿越地中海，但是卻在過程中被逮捕并遣回加納，這已經是他的第三次嘗試了。待他回來時，已是一無所有。特烏現在30多歲，是一名街頭傳教士。接受采訪時他說他仍然希望有一天能夠去歐洲，也許通過其他路線。
A hazardous journey
風險重重的旅程
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.
從利比亞出發到歐洲的加納移民大多都要經布基納法索（Burkina Faso）到尼日爾的阿加德茲（Agadez）。也正是在這段路程上，他們會遇到其他為躲避沖突和壓迫的人，他們當中有些來自西非，還有的來自其他地區。
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.
通過中間商的服務，他們搭乘超載的卡車，結隊行駛。還要步行從撒哈拉沙漠到利比亞邊境附近的博爾庫地區。行程中伴隨著生命危險，很多人死于疲勞過度和嚴重脫水。
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.
特烏現在還會回想起那些人販子，他們給出的價格簡直就是敲詐勒索。讓特烏難忘的還有撒哈拉沙漠里那些被遺棄的死尸，特烏回憶說：“有些倚著石頭，看起來好像是在睡覺，還有的埋在土里?！?/p>
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.”
三名和特烏同行的伙伴死于途中，特烏說：“他們走不動了。那時我們想要鼓勵他們，但不能耽擱太長時間，因為如果被隊伍落下的話，我們自己也會迷路，就會有生命危險。他們都是我認識的人，我們從恩科洛桑（Nkoronza）開始同行。抵達的黎波里之后，我打電話給他們家里，通知了他們的家人?！?/p>
Twum’s story is all too common in the Brong Ahafo Region, with echoes across Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries.
類似特烏的故事在布朗阿哈福地區已經司空見慣了，整個加納及其他撒哈拉南部的非洲國家都反復上演著相似的故事。
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.
據國際移民組織（IOM）駐加納辦事處的統計，在2011年利比亞危機和卡扎菲倒臺期間，利比亞驅散了超過1萬8千名的加納移民?？紤]到有些移民在局勢惡化前就離開了利比亞，實際遣返者的數量可能還要更高一些。
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.
IOM幫助加納政府轉移了加納的滯留公民，據其統計，大部分遣返者都被送回了布朗阿哈福地區，他們原本也是從那里出發的。
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.
對于很多生活在布朗阿哈福的家庭來說，有親信在歐洲就意味著聲望和可觀的資金援助。加納內政部移民局局長沃爾特·庫沃·阿納蒂（Walter Kwao-Anati）說：“每個家庭都希望能有家人在歐洲?！?/p>
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.”
他還說，“在某些情況下，社區也會提供支持，幫助其成員離開本地。因為如果一個家族當中沒有人去歐洲的話，就會被看不起。”
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.
除此之外，成員家里也要相應提供資金支持，因為這本身也是在提高自己家庭的生活水平。根據非洲開發銀行出具的《2015非洲經濟展望》報告，2015年由此帶來的匯款金額達640億美元，是非洲地區外來資金最主要也是最穩定的來源。
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.”
在這些關乎聲望的表象背后，是更大的國家發展問題。庫沃·阿納蒂說：“就加納來說，人們之所以通過移民的方式尋找賺錢的機會，很大一部分是出于貧困?！?
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