Young Ghanaians risk all for "better" life
为了更好的生活，加纳青年铤而走险
Some migrate within Africa while others take the risky route to Europe
一些人辗转在非洲，而另一些则踏上前往欧洲的冒险之旅。
By Efam Awo Dovi
艾法姆 阿沃 多维 撰稿
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.
在布朗阿哈福地区(加纳一处主要食品贸易市场)，每个星期车辆都载满了年龄18到40岁之间的男子。当中许多人特别是年轻人都希望前往欧洲，而其他人则选择了非洲较为繁荣的国家。除了目的地不同，他们都有共同目标:期待找到好工作，过更好的生活，能够养活自己和留守的家庭。
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.
克菲旺姆几年前开始了这种旅程。当时他18岁，他的父亲在他很小时就去世了。她的母亲是一位靠种地为生的农民，是唯一养家糊口的人。旺姆初中毕业后，就沿街叫卖番薯来帮助母亲。但是随着他们的居住环境不断恶化，家中排行老五的旺姆觉得应该在其他地方找份工作。
“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.
"我想去意大利挣钱来帮助我的母亲。"旺姆在家里接受《振兴非洲》采访时对记者说。他的家在加纳北部叫做恩科兰扎的镇上。
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，在哥哥的资助下，旺姆加入一支由35名年青人组成的队伍，他们要穿越撒哈拉沙漠抵达利比亚，然后乘船前往欧洲。
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，在第三次尝试乘坐拥挤的小船穿越地中海时，他被捕了并遣返回了加纳，旺姆此行一无所获。现在旺姆已经30多岁，成为了一名街头传教士，他告诉《非洲振兴》，他仍然希望有朝一日通过其他的途径去欧洲。
A hazardous journey
亡命之旅
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.
大部分试图通过利比亚前往欧洲的加纳移民，都要穿越布基纳法索达到尼日尔的阿加德兹。在那里他们将与来自于西非和其他地方的移民汇合，这些移民都是为了躲避战乱和迫害。
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.
在中间人的安排下，他们先要坐超载的卡车结伴而行，然后剩下的路程需要徒步穿越撒哈拉大沙漠，到达利比亚边境博尔库地区。这是一次亡命之行。许多人死于过度疲劳和脱水。
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.
旺姆仍能想起那些人贩子和他们对金钱的贪婪。同时，被遗弃在撒哈拉炎热沙漠中一具具尸体的场景仍然历历在目。“其中一些靠在岩石上，看上去像在睡觉，还有一些被沙土所掩埋，”他回忆道。
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.”
和他在一起的三名移民死于途中。“他们不能继续走了。当出现这种情况时，我们尽力鼓励他们，但是过了一阵后，你不得不离开他们，因为如果你掉队了，就会迷路，然后很快丢掉性命，”他说道。“这些人我都认识，我们一起从恩科兰扎出发。后来我从黎波里给他们每家打了电话，通知了他们家人。”
Twum’s story is all too common in the Brong Ahafo Region, with echoes across Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries.
在布朗阿哈福地区像旺姆这样的故事很平常，甚至在整个加纳和其他撒哈拉以南的非洲国家也都很普遍。
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.
据国际移民组织（IOM)设在加纳办事处数据显示，2011年利比亚危机和卡扎菲垮台时期，利比亚境内超过18000名加纳难民被遣散。然而，实际返回人数可能会更多，因为一些难民在危机爆发之前就已经主动离开了利比亚。
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.
国际移民组织曾帮助加纳政府疏散滞留国民，据其数据显示，大部分返回者会被送回当初离开的地方——布朗阿哈福地区。
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.
对于许多在布朗阿哈福地区的家庭而言，有一个远在欧洲的亲戚就意味着拥有了声望和收到汇款的希望。“每个家庭都希望家里有人在欧洲，”加纳内务部移民主管——沃特可瓦安娜提说道。
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.”
他补充道，“有些时候整个家族会一起支持亲戚离开，因为如果家里没人前往欧洲，那么一家人都会被人小瞧。”
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.
同时，家里的人还翘首期盼着收到汇款，这些钱可以用来改善家里的生活条件。根据非洲发展银行2015非洲经济展望报告，仅2015年汇款金额就在640亿美元，这些资金是非洲外汇收入中最稳定、最重要的部分。
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.”
但是在所谓的尊严背后却反映了国家层面的发展问题。可瓦阿娜提承认，就加纳的情况而言，“贫穷是导致人们移民寻求经济机会的重要原因之一。”
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