[ 2017-01-16 ]

Seidu Mohammed, Ghanaian refugee

Ghanaian refugee to lose fingers and toe after 7-hour trek to cross US border
A Ghanaian refugee who almost died during a trek
to cross the U.S.-Canada border into Manitoba on
Christmas Eve will lose all of his fingers, a toe
and possibly his arms.

"It's very bad news," Seidu Mohammed, 24, told CBC
News in an interview at a Winnipeg hospital where
he is being treated for severe frostbite. "I don't
know what to do right now."

Mohammed said he fled Ghana for the United States
in 2015 because he feared for his life due to his
sexual orientation, but when he arrived in San
Diego, he was detained for a year.

He applied for asylum after his visa ran out but a
judge denied his request.

"I ran for my life," Mohammed said.

He and another Ghanaian man, who he met in
Minneapolis, decided to flee to Canada. The two of
them took a bus to Grand Forks, N.D., then flagged
a cab and spent $400 for a ride to a spot near the
U.S.-Canada border on Dec. 24.

"There is a big farm around the border and we
passed through," said Mohammed. "It was very
difficult because when we stepped in that farm,
the snow was [at] our waists."

For at least seven hours, the two trudged through
snowy fields with the temperature hovering around
the –18 C mark, without the wind chill factored
in.

They finally came upon Highway 75, near the
Emerson, Man., border crossing.

The two men tried for hours to flag down trucks
passing them by on the highway. A truck driver
finally stopped and called 911 to get medical help
for the men who were disoriented and cold. It is
unclear how they managed to cross the border
without being stopped.

They've both been in hospital since the trucker
got them help, recovering in a specialised burn
ward of Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre.

"If not for him, we would have died in that snow,"
said Mohammed. "Nobody stopped till this Good
Samaritan, God sent [this] man.… We were about
to give up."

On Monday, Mohammed and his friend met the Good
Samaritan for the first time since the morning of
Christmas Eve.

"He was crying. We all started crying because he
saved our lives," Mohammed said.

Mohammed is one of hundreds of refugees this year
that have crossed the Canada-U.S. border into
Manitoba between ports of entry.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency
figures, there's been a fivefold increase in the
number of refugee claimants crossing between ports
of entry in the past three years.

The Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement
requires refugees to seek asylum in the first
country they arrive, with a few exceptions.

Some advocates say the agreement is the reason
refugees sometimes put their lives at risk
sneaking into countries like Canada.

"If the Safe Third Country Agreement would be
scrapped, then these people would not be risking
their lives through the prairie open field," said
Bashir Khan, a Winnipeg immigration and refugee
lawyer who has taken on the Ghanaian refugees'
case.

They'd be able to present themselves right at the
border," he said.

Mohammed has filed an application for refugee
status. Refugee claims are typically heard by the
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada within two
months.

He is hopeful he'll be able to stay and work in
Canada and is grateful for all the help he's
received from various groups, including the local
Ghanaian community.

"I want to say thank you to all of you who show
caring."

Even though he was especially saddened by news
from his doctors that he will lose a toe since
he's an avid soccer player, Mohammed said it's a
price he's willing to pay for freedom and a better
life.

"The journey was worth it. I'm happy I'm here. To
go back, I lose my life," he said.

Source - cbc.ca

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