Takoradi, July 30, GNA - Some returnees from Libya currently receiving training in various trades to enable them become economically independent on Friday, said Ghana is a safe haven for wealth and prosperity.
They recounted the harrowing and gruesome experiences during their journey through the desert that left some of them with serious injuries that maimed them for life, to some visiting journalists who were on a field trip to the Western and Central Regions.
The seven journalists who were part of 15 selected journalists from the Greater Accra, Central and Upper West Regions, visited European Union (EU) sponsored projects in the Western and Central Regions.
The other eight toured EU project sites in the Upper West Region.
The team earlier received two-day training on mobile journalism sponsored by the EU in Accra and were taken through the use of smart phones to capture videos, audios and texts to make fantastic stories using specialised apps.
They also interacted with fishing communities at Saltpond Ankaful and Axim Apewosika respectively in the Central and Western Regions, where they undertook canoe trips offshore to experience the work of fishermen on the high seas and also to use their smart phones to capture the exciting scenes for their stories.
Three of the Journalists, Nancy Emefa Dzradosi from Joy News, Shirley Asiedu-Addo, Graphic and Hawa Ibrahim from CitiNewsroom were sea-sick during the expedition on the First day at Saltpond Ankaful offshore and later told the Ghana News Agency’s correspondent, Alice Tettey, they now respect and appreciate the work of fishermen.
At the Takoradi National Vocational and Technical Institute (NVTI), 24 Returnees aged from 20 to 37 and the only woman who said she rescinded her decision to travel after hearing of the heinous narratives of the men, were seen smartly dressed in their overall-working gears and boots to match.
The training of the Returnees is under the IOM-EU’s joint initiative for migrant protection and re-integration programme and involves forklift machinery and heavy duty machinery to offer the returnees decent jobs to to live meaningful lives back home.
A closer look revealed sadness and grief deep in the eyes of the traumatised young men, who despite their calamities cheered and chanted their slogan “home sweet home” amidst wild jubilations during an interaction with the team of journalists.
They said they had spent between 7000 to 12000 Cedis to undertake the deadly voyage by crossing the desert to Libya only to be kidnapped either on the high seas or at the borders of Libya and sold into slavery, but gained their freedom after their relatives back home organised and paid $3,000 each to their captors.
George Forson, 27, from New-Takoradi recounted how he spent one year from one detention camp to the other witnessing the gruesome murder of his cousin whose relatives could not raise the $3000 demanded by his captors and was burnt to death.
According to John Anderson, 30 and Isaac Amissah, 26, the conditions at the detention camps were so horrible as they slept on piles of feces and the stench of urine for countless weeks with many dying out of thirst, hunger and torture.
They were full of praise for the IOM-EU initiative, which gave them hope for the future as they had hands on training on the job and appealed to Companies and organisations to employ them after their training.
Maxwell Kofi Zanu, Manager, NVTI said the profile dimension of the course was 30 percent theory and 70 percent practical and that they will be soon be deployed to some identified industries adding that their proficiency certificate was internationally recognised.
At the Takoradi Market Circle, where two of the returnees, Ahmed Abdullah, 29 and Justice Eshun 26 who are into mobile phone repairs and trading with support from the IOM-EU joint initiative, told the journalists they were the only survivors among 30 young men who undertook the trip together.
GNA
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