Ghana to Costa Rica: A young Ghanaian family leaves the dangers of a deadly land dispute to make its way through South and Central America, relying on gifts from fellow travelers.
Written by: The Journeys Project
Isabel fled Ghana with her husband and newborn child due to a land dispute with her extended family. After a treacherous journey through the jungle, they arrived in Costa Rica. Isabel wants to continue to the United States, but they are out of money, so her husband is working to save enough to get them there.
"We are from the Ashanti Region in Ghana. Before leaving my country, I had a small hairdresser salon. My husband was a designer [tailor] in the market. My father was a teakwood farmer. He had fourteen children and could not send us all to school, but he did his best. I did attend training college, and after my marriage, my father gave my husband and me a small house.
"Later, my father passed away, and in less than two weeks, my eight siblings, whose mother is different from mine, took everything. My mother, who is getting old, tried to help me. She fought my siblings in court and spent a lot of time traveling and paying for the judicial procedures. When my husband tried to intervene in court on behalf of my mother and me, he was threatened and attacked. Look at what they did to him." Isabel showed us her husband's visible scars from the attack on the back of his neck. She also attempted to lift his shirt to show us additional scarring on his back, but André was uncomfortable with this and waved her off. "At that time, I was pregnant with a baby girl. I lost my pregnancy from the stress.
"My cousin—a police officer—told us that the family hired some people to eliminate my husband and that we needed to leave the country. He searched on the Internet and recommended that we go to Ecuador. He also helped us with money." (Ecuador at that time did not require an entry visa.)
"On November 26, 2017, we took a flight from Accra through Istanbul to Ecuador, and then we crossed to Colombia. We stayed in Colombia for three months. Nobody could exit. After, we paid $150 per person to the smuggler, who took a boat from Turbo to Capurganá. Unfortunately, we were intercepted by the patrol and sent back. For the second attempt, we paid $180 per person. If we were allowed to take the official boat, it would have cost us $20 per person, but we did not have the right documents to take that boat. At that point in Colombia, we had run out of money.
"To continue our journey, a friend of my father who lives in the US sent us $150 through Western Union. He is a good person. We asked a Colombian to help us to withdraw the money. Other Ghanaians who were traveling with us also gave us money. On March 10, 2018, we started the journey through the jungle to Panama. We walked through the jungle for one week. We met people from Pakistan and Sudan. The Pakistanis carried with them tents and food. We did not have anything to shelter us or anything to eat. We walked and climbed in the rain. It was very difficult. We saw graves for people who had been buried in the jungle. We saw one man and a child taken by the waters on the shore of the river. We drank water from the river, and we received some food from the villagers. We were afraid of the mafia [thieves]. We put all our money in Daniel's diapers."
"In Panama, immigration officials helped us. They took us to the hospital to treat my son, who was sick because of the water that he drank in the jungle. My leg was swollen, too. Once we recovered, we paid $25 per person for bus tickets to travel to the border of Costa Rica. We arrived too late and had to sleep in a garage, using cardboard as a makeshift bed.
"In the morning, we crossed into Costa Rica. They took our fingerprints and photos and gave us documents that allowed us to stay in the country for 25 days. When we arrived here in the north, we stayed for one month in the camp. We decided to leave because we are a couple and there is no space or privacy in the camp. We found this place through a Nigerian friend.
"Now, we don't have enough money to continue. My husband works to pay the rent and food. Daniel needs special food and diapers. Since we arrived in La Cruz, I received money two times through Western Union. My husband is in contact with a guy in Iowa and other Ghanaian friends through Facebook who traveled like us to the US. They can help us. We want to go to the US, but we don't know how.
"From Ghana and my previous life, I miss my house, my siblings, and my mother in law.
"We don't advise people to take the same road and go through the jungle. No."
📝 This article was originally published in a collection of biographies by the Henry J. Leir Institute at The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and Tufts University.
You can Download the original collection below ⬇️