• Lady shares harrowing story about a journey to Libya
• Latifa Sulley left Ghana when she was 19
• She ignored her mother’s advice and travelled to Libya
A 24-year-old lady, Latifa Sulley, has shared the story of how she landed in Libya despite a piece of advice from her mother to not embark on that journey.
Latifa, a Sisala who was raised in Ashanti regional capital Kumasi, in an interview said she was bent on leaving the shores of Ghana for greener pastures because life was unbearable despite being a worker.
Before leaving Ghana, she worked as a cook and dishwasher at a local restaurant in Kumasi. The venture was not financially rewarding so she left for Accra. In the nation’s capital city, she met a Liberian man who told her about a friend in Libya who owned a restaurant.
According to Latifa, the Liberian friend was sure she would excel in Libya taking into cognizance the fact that she was not new to the enterprise.
Latifa’s resolve to soar was inflexible because she had told her mother she would excel in life. This was after Latifa’s mother cursed her for making her weep.
“I refused to go to school. I was always in miniskirts roaming with my friends. I hardly slept home. My mum was worried, she wept so I wanted to give her freedom. She once told me it shall not be well with me in life. That was when I told her that I will prove her wrong”, Latifa noted.
The 24-year-old who has been staying abroad for eight years said she discussed her decision to travel to Libya with the mother but she opposed it on the grounds that Libya was at war at the time following the killing of Muammar Gaddafi. She, however, ignored the mother’s counsel.
Latifa told ZionFelix that she moved from Accra to Libya in 2013 by road.
“As part of the package, you’re given a gallon of water. I was lucky to be the only lady and the only Ghanaian on the bus. I was made to sit on the front seat”, she said.
“Before moving to Libya, I stayed at Niamey in Niger. I worked for a certain man for two weeks. When I got to Libya, the woman who received me treated me unfairly. She said I’d pay US$3,500. When I noticed the chaos in Libya, I wanted to return to Ghana but the woman refused to let me go. She sold me to a Libyan, I worked for the person but never received payment after three months. She locked me up in a certain room. Her husband engaged her and she opened the door for me after that encounter”, Latifa recalled.
Latfia further stated that after she was freed, she stepped out the very day but that was the beginning of another harrowing experience.
“I was kidnapped by some men in military uniforms but were not military personnel. That was the time Ghaddafi has been killed. I went to prison for three months because there was nobody to pay the ransom”, she claimed.
Coincidentally, she met the man that brought her to Libya in prison. She headed to Europe when she had her freedom. The decision to leave for Europe was informed by a phone call from a friend who was living in Italy. Her trip to Italy, like Libya, was punctuated by struggles.
Watch the interview below.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com