Samuel's story

 ‘Oh, so you’ve studied in Spain? I’ve been there before, crossed over with a boat from Gambia.... After four weeks they sent me back’.

In this casual manner my driver-for-the-day Samuel, told me that a few years ago he had been trying to make it to Europe in an illegally organized transport from Gambia to the Canary Islands. We were on our way to one of Worldreader’s pilot villages in Ghana, where I was to interview students on their experience with using e-readers at home. Samuel was a cheerful chap in his thirties, who liked a good conversation and loved both Manchester United and FC Liverpool. Later during the trip, I also realized that Samuel could not read; he found our destinations by driving nearby and then asking for directions, not noticing the street signs pointing to the same places. However, he, like so many adult Ghanaians I met, was eager to 'continue his education'.

His comment had caught me by surprise. I asked him to tell me more about this journey, if he did not mind. From what I gathered, this transport had been organized by human traffickers of the worst sort, who had organized a floating shell of molded plastic, proclaimed it a boat, crammed 180 people onto it and sent them offshore with uncertain destiny, not before charging everybody the equivalent of 2.000 Euros. From what Samuel told me, the journey must have been horrible, among the worst a human being can be exposed to. They were on open sea for two weeks or so, without nearly enough food and water, and many died from malnourishment and illness or were lost in the sea. Gambia is by no means near the Canary Islands and they had to cover a distance of 1.500  kilometers. In sight of the Canary Islands, and thereby EU territory, those who had made it, were picked up by the Spanish navy and brought onshore to a detention camp, where they were fed and treated, and that was where Samuel’s journey had ended. He spent four weeks there, before being sent back to Gambia. He been lucky or smart enough to organize a car there, and drove back all the way to Ghana, eleven days with little sleep on a trip of at least 3.000 km through various West African nations. Samuel now earns a living as a driver in and around the Accra region.

We had a long conversation about the topic, and he was fully aware that he had been the victim of criminals, to whom his life meant little. Sadly, he had little hope that he had many perspectives in Ghana either. ‘One day,’ he said ‘I will try to cross over again’.