The territory where Boko Haram breeds and tortures innocent civilians, and forces young men to the war front.
A growing crises along the Nigeria-Niger-Cameroon-Chad border axis.
Over 50,000 fleeing, majority by land and the others by air.
Shagaiyah is a young man from Niger I met in an area in Ghana(West Africa) filled with ''refugees'' from Niger and Chad. A computer science university student and a brother to many siblings. A fluent french speaker, but inarticulate english speaker.
He and his family fled Niger because of the drought and conflict, but not permanently. He will return to Niger to further his studies once he makes enough money. With no identity to the state, he makes a living from begging on the streets of Accra, filled with tourists with his family.
As one of the older boys in his family, he and his younger siblings as young as 5 go on the streets, chase taxis and cling unto the arms of Ghanaians. The female parents and grandparents sit in the sun and collect the money they make from begging. The males sit behind a rock and pray all day.
Not all Ghanaians are in favour of their migration. Some Ghanaians are convinced that these ''refugees'' believe that because they are not black (in regards to their skin colour as well) but Arab , the migrants believe Ghanaians should work for them; hence why they do not go out and look for jobs.
As if employment is not an issue in Ghana, how is one supposed to get a job with no form of Identification, a valid working permit.
I asked Shagaiyah how he got to Ghana; He travelled by land on a truck, paying over 15000 cfa. He wouldn't show me his identification car because he assumed I was a journalist.
I asked him if he would like a job in Ghana and his response was : Yes, if the government gives me one I will take it
Niger and Chad citizens have been migrating to Ghana for so long that some of them are able to speak twi; the local dialect. Speaking to Shagaiyah was a little bit hard since I spoke little french, but after speaking to his cousin who spoke very fluent twi, even better than myself, I felt like handing all of them a Ghanaian passport. Shagaiyah's Aunt who also made the journey, happened to go blind on their way to Ghana. After fleeing a country in turmoil, its sad that you don't get to see the Goldcoast, the land of freedom. But she feels the peace in Ghana. She hopes it continues to remain peaceful. Their stories are incredible and uplifting and after meeting and talking to over 10 of family I will be making work from the images I will take.
I want to take passport pictures of all of them, and attempt to make travel documents for them. I won't put any of the images on social media, as I promised them.
A growing crises along the Nigeria-Niger-Cameroon-Chad border axis.
Over 50,000 fleeing, majority by land and the others by air.
Shagaiyah is a young man from Niger I met in an area in Ghana(West Africa) filled with ''refugees'' from Niger and Chad. A computer science university student and a brother to many siblings. A fluent french speaker, but inarticulate english speaker.
He and his family fled Niger because of the drought and conflict, but not permanently. He will return to Niger to further his studies once he makes enough money. With no identity to the state, he makes a living from begging on the streets of Accra, filled with tourists with his family.
As one of the older boys in his family, he and his younger siblings as young as 5 go on the streets, chase taxis and cling unto the arms of Ghanaians. The female parents and grandparents sit in the sun and collect the money they make from begging. The males sit behind a rock and pray all day.
Not all Ghanaians are in favour of their migration. Some Ghanaians are convinced that these ''refugees'' believe that because they are not black (in regards to their skin colour as well) but Arab , the migrants believe Ghanaians should work for them; hence why they do not go out and look for jobs.
As if employment is not an issue in Ghana, how is one supposed to get a job with no form of Identification, a valid working permit.
I asked Shagaiyah how he got to Ghana; He travelled by land on a truck, paying over 15000 cfa. He wouldn't show me his identification car because he assumed I was a journalist.
I asked him if he would like a job in Ghana and his response was : Yes, if the government gives me one I will take it
Niger and Chad citizens have been migrating to Ghana for so long that some of them are able to speak twi; the local dialect. Speaking to Shagaiyah was a little bit hard since I spoke little french, but after speaking to his cousin who spoke very fluent twi, even better than myself, I felt like handing all of them a Ghanaian passport. Shagaiyah's Aunt who also made the journey, happened to go blind on their way to Ghana. After fleeing a country in turmoil, its sad that you don't get to see the Goldcoast, the land of freedom. But she feels the peace in Ghana. She hopes it continues to remain peaceful. Their stories are incredible and uplifting and after meeting and talking to over 10 of family I will be making work from the images I will take.
I want to take passport pictures of all of them, and attempt to make travel documents for them. I won't put any of the images on social media, as I promised them.
