Nope. This is not about the song.
Greetings, once again! 👋🏽
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North to Paradise tells the author’s harrowing but inspiring story of his journey to Europe, in search of greener pastures. I read the book over a year ago but it still lingers in my mind. I guess that’s why memoirs have a special place in my heart; they just stay with you. The 160-page book was originally published in Spanish in 2019 and the English version became available in 2022.
This book is heavy right from the jump. In the prologue, the author described a scene in the desert where one of the travelers in his group gave up after they had all been walking for days without food or water, and there was no end in sight.
“When we started out, there were forty-six of us. Only six survived.”
Living a simple life in a small remote village in Ghana, where he worked on the farm, ate what was hunted in the jungle or plucked from trees, listened to the elders’ stories, and played football, Ousman did not think much about the future, “because if you don’t know something exists, you can’t want it.”
He was 9 years old when his father sent him to his uncle’s auto body shop in Techiman, a nearby town to work as an apprentice. He was instead sent to hawk on the streets so when he heard about work in the Kumasi, he left to go there on a food truck. That was the beginning of what he did not know would be a five-year journey to Europe.
“When I lived in my village, I thought my village was the world. When I traveled to Techiman, I realized that the world was just a bit bigger. Then, in Kumasi, the world grew even more. And then, at the port of Accra, I set eyes on the sea for the first time. It was so blue, so immense, I didn’t know where it ended. It terrified me, but still, I dreamed that there, just on the other side of the waves, was Paradise.”
Working as a trainee mechanic and living in the shop, he made friends with other boys in the area and started working with one of them as a busboy at night. Work soon became slow in Kumasi so he moved to Accra in search of more work, regardless of the conditions. Not long after, they started talking about going to work in Libya.
Ousman was about 12 when he left Ghana. From working odd jobs and travelling through Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, and staying a few years in Libya to make some money to continue his journey, to passing through Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, Morocco, and Mauritania, he was transferred like a commodity from one group of smugglers to another, and even abandoned with fellow travellers in the desert. They eventually travelled by sea in an overpacked boat, from which some people fell into the sea. Ousman made it to Spain, but at what cost?
“Given all the hardship I’ve experienced, it would be easy to think that the world is full of bad people, but I prefer to think that most people are good. It’s just that the good people make less noise.”
In spite of Ousman’s journey to Spain being difficult, he experienced good friendships and generosity, and remained resilient and hopeful that he would eventually get to his destination. In as much as how we navigate life experiences depends on our perspective, the role of luck can not be over-emphasized.
In a nutshell, this compelling story written in plain simple language paints a picture of the realities of life on the most dangerous migration route in Africa.
“When I think of the place I was born, the place I traveled through, and the place I now call home, I am struck by how completely different they all are…I had to navigate each one and now, I am in a position to see all of them at once…”
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Leave a comment, maybe? 😉
If you read this book after reading this review, do come back and share, thank you!