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Farmers swap poverty in Ghana for exploitation in Europe [1]
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Date: 2023-12
After struggling to make a living farming in Ghana, Owusu decided to look for opportunities abroad. He spent two years doing gruelling work in Libya before making the perilous boat crossing to Italy, where he found work in tomato farming. But Europe was not as he had imagined. Owusu is one of six migrant workers who told us about their experiences of migration for this series. An explanation of how we produced this interview can be found at the end.
Raphel Ahenu (BTS): Why did you decide to travel to Italy?
Owusu: Before I left Ghana, I was working as a farm labourer. The farm was owned by a relative of mine. We had agreed to share the harvest, but things became strained between us. I was doing all of the work, but he kept increasing his share of the harvest. I was also paying for fertiliser and pesticides out of my own pocket and he never paid me back. I had had enough, so I decided to look for other options.
I initially had a connection for Qatar, but it was too expensive to go. Flying there would have been much safer, but crossing the desert to Libya was around half the price.
I planned to find work in Libya once I got there, in order to pay for the sea crossing to Italy. I have an uncle in France who travelled the same way around 10 years ago. So I knew someone who had made it before.
Raphel: How did you afford the journey?
Owusu: I sold 20 bags of the corn I had harvested. It came to nearly 35,000 GHS (~£2,350), which I put aside for the trip. I didn’t want to be in debt to anyone, and was happy that I was paying to travel with my own money.
I used the money to pay the person making the arrangements, and to buy myself some good walking shoes, clothes and food items for the journey. I gave the rest to my younger brother for safekeeping in case I encountered any problems on the way.
Raphel: What was the journey like?
We crossed through Burkina Faso to get to Niger. There we got onto a pickup truck for the trip across the desert. It shouldn’t have held more than five people, but there were 35 of us! We were packed in like sardines. Luckily we stopped for regular breaks.
I ran out of money near the end of the journey, so I called my brother for help and he sent me more.
Once in Libya, I made contact with the man I was going to stay with. He told me to come to Tripoli. When I told this to the driver, he told me the fare had increased. Luckily the man I was meeting promised to pay him for me. True to his word, he paid for the remainder of my transportation fee – around 24,000 GHS (~£1,600)!
The man told me that drivers cheat their passengers in this way sometimes. And if the passengers don’t comply, they sometimes take them to a place where they’re forced to work to pay off an unagreed sum before eventually being released. I thanked him and promised to pay him back once I had found a job.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/farmers-swap-poverty-in-ghana-for-exploitation-in-europe-italy-migration/
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