Young Ghanaians risk all for "better" life
年轻的加纳人为了“更好”的生活冒险
Some migrate within Africa while others take the risky route to Europe
有些人在非洲移民而另外一些人冒险闯入欧洲
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.
每周在博朗·艾方（Brong Ahafo）地区，这是加纳的主要粮食产地，卡车上主要装载着18-40岁的男性，很多人，大部分年轻男性，都希望去欧洲，而剩余的人希望能去非洲较繁荣的国家发展，不在意最后到达哪里，他们有着同样的愿望，希望能获得优渥的工作，为背后的家庭和自己提高生活水平。
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.
科夫·图峰几年前也曾同样出行过。他才18岁，而且父亲很早就去世，他母亲是农民，基本能养活家庭，是家庭的唯一经济支柱。图峰初中毕业后，他就为母亲吆喝粮食减轻负担。但是他们的生活却一落千丈，而图峰，在家里六个孩子里排名第五，认为需要去工作来减轻家庭负担。
“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.
“ 我希望能去意大利工作后来帮助妈妈减轻负担，”图峰在加纳北部诺卡冉萨州的家里和《非洲新报》的记者表明自己的想法。
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，得到哥哥的经济支持，图峰加入了一个小组，一共35个年轻男性，穿过撒哈拉沙漠到利比亚，然后乘船抵达欧洲。
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.
但是，他已经是第三次在利比亚跳上拥挤的船，穿越地中海，他还是被别人捉住遣回加纳。他空手而归。图峰三十几岁，在街上吆喝卖菜，他和《非洲日报》说自己依旧想有一天能去欧洲，但这次想试试看别的路途。
A hazardous journey
惊险的旅程
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.
很多从加纳来的人都试着通过布吉亚到尼日尔的阿加德茲（Agadez），从那里他们可以加入到一群来自非洲西部和其他地区的人，他们都是为了逃避冲突和迫害。
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.
有了中介的帮助，他们乘上超载的运货卡车，有一部分的路程只能徒步行走，穿过撒哈拉沙漠到达利比亚边界区域的博库（Borku），这是和死亡对抗，不少人都死于疲惫不堪和失水过多。
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.
图峰想起那些人贩子以及他们漫天开价的模样，而且最令人难以忘怀的是在闷热的撒哈拉沙漠看到很多遗弃的尸体躺在地上，“有些人靠在石头上，看起来像是在睡觉，还有一些人则埋在沙尘中。”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.”
和他同行的三个出行伙伴也死了，“他们走不下去了，那一刻，我们一直尝试鼓励他们，但是不久就只能把他们留在那里，因为如果你远远落在队伍后面，就会迷失方向，自己过不久也会死的，”他说，“这些是我的朋友，我们从那里出发，后来我在给他们家人打电话通知这件事。
Twum’s story is all too common in the Brong Ahafo Region, with echoes across Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries.
图峰的经历在这个地方真的是司空见惯了，从加纳到其他次撒哈拉地区都遍布同样经历的人
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.
加纳的国际移民局称，2011年由于利比亚危机的爆发和卡扎菲政府倾覆，超过18000个住在利比亚的加纳移民都撤离利比亚。而实际遣返回国的人数却可能更高，因为很多人选择在危机加剧前逃出利比亚。
The majority of the returnees were sent back to the Brong AhafoRegion, from which they came, according to the IOM, which supported the Ghanaian government in evacuating its stranded nationals.
根据国际移民局所说，大部分回来的人都回去他们原本的地方--博朗·艾方，而且当局还帮助加纳政府遣返滞留在利比亚的同胞。
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.
对于博朗艾方的千千万万个家庭而言，在欧洲有亲人意味着无上的光荣和收到海外汇付的幸福，沃特·科沃安纳是加纳内务部的移民局局长，说道，“每个家庭都希望欧洲有人脉或亲人。”
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.”
而就其他方面而言，他继续说道，“社区会提供帮助支持离开加纳的亲人，因为家里没人前往欧洲，会被人看不起的。”
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.
而且他们也希望离开后的亲人能给家里以经济支持，能提升他们的生活水平。根据非洲发展银行2015年的非洲经济前景报告，2015年汇付达640亿美元，成为非洲外部最稳定也最重要的唯一经济来源。
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.”
但是在这个外表光鲜之下是国家的发展问题，这个问题涉及得更大，科瓦安纳承认，在加纳的这件事上，“贫穷是驱动人们不停移民寻求经济发展机会的唯一原因。”