by FEMI AMOGUNLA
Young Ghanaians who travelled to Nigeria to work as farm hands show the most precious possession they took with them.
The young Ghanaian men and boys who come to this farm in Osun state, Nigeria, each year to find work mostly say they do it in order to improve their lives once they return home.
They have been brought in to the country in groups by a “master” – usually an older Ghanaian who has lived for several years in Nigeria. At the end of nearly a year of hard work hoeing ridges, weeding and planting in often difficult conditions, they will return to their homes with a motorbike as the prize for their labour.
Some motorbikes will be sold to help support families, others will be put to use – often as motorbike taxis to provide an income. Aside from this, farm workers do not earn any money – they are only provided with food and basic accommodation.
During these months away from home, many find some comfort in the personal possessions they brought with them. Through these precious items – an old wristwatch, a bag, clothes, a chain and pendant – they carry a part of their country, their memories of home and family, and their dreams for the future.
Lewin: The thing around your neck
Every morning before Lewin, 15, heads out to work on the farm, he carefully removes and stores two interwoven necklaces inside his travelling bag.
“The work is always too much. I don’t want to make the thing spoil quick,” he says. He is worried the necklaces will be damaged if he works while wearing them. Once he takes his bath after returning from the farm, he puts them back on.
The words – “The Methodist Church, Ghana” – are imprinted on the pendant of one of the necklaces.
“That is my church in Ghana,” he says. “This was my grandmother’s gift to me while growing up.”
Lewin says he remembers his late grandmother whenever he looks at it.
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