VOICES From Migrations | Emmanuel Osei's story
- Changemakers
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
“VOICES From Migrations” is a project co-funded by the European Union exploring untold migration stories. Emmanuel Osei is 47 years old, from Ghana, and he arrived in Italy in July 2008. This is his history:
“The reason I left Ghana was simple: survival. I had problems so severe that I could not stay.
My journey started on 29 March 2008. From Ghana, I crossed into Niger, and I reached Agadez. It was a place that looked nothing like any land I’d known. An endless desert. I crossed that desert for 21 days without proper water. I remember falling from a camel, losing consciousness. People thought I died. When I finally reached a town, I was sick with chickenpox. Hospitals turned us away. No medicine. Nothing. We boiled herbs, mixed them in water, and I prayed to recover. I knew I had to move forward, to Italy, where they help refugees.
From Libya, I crossed the sea. On 11 July, I landed in Lampedusa. Then came the Foggia camp, where I got terrible news: my wife back home had died. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t sleep. After the camp, I went to Rosarno to pick oranges, working on farms just to survive. We lived in abandoned factories - dirty, always filled with smoke, barely livable.
In 2010, violence erupted in Rosarno. People were shot. It was chaos, civilians targeting and attacking migrant people. I hid, afraid for my life. With help from friends, I fled to Catanzaro and stayed in a camp for two years. Then life changed, as I met Michelangelo Rosarno and his family.
This family, and Michelangelo, treated me like a brother. Thanks to them, I found legal help, got my documents, and built a life. Later on, I married my second wife in Ghana and brought her here, to Italy. Now, we live in Rosarno with our two daughters, and I recently got Italian citizenship.
Every day, I give thanks to Michelangelo and Mama Maria, who treat me like their own and have helped me get to where I am now. Today, I work, I pray, and I help others. I want people to know: when you enter a city, you must show your goodness. And hope will follow.”
Interview by: Melanie Azetmüller, Mina Speh, and Ahmed Tariq
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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