Sam Goncolo left his country in search of a better life in Europe. Now he works to convince other migrants to return home
It was a balmy Moroccan autumn day on October 27, 2013, when Sam Goncolo, 31, descended the aircraft that flew him into Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca.
According to the International Organisation for Migration , over 200,000 Liberians leave the country every year in search of a better future. “I was moved by the stories of these migrants and the difficult journeys they’ve been on. I saw young and extremely talented people who had so much to offer to their home countries but have suffered so much on a very perilous journey… and all for what?” Sam tells TRT Afrika. In 2017, the International Organisation for Migration reported that up to 40 migrants died of thirst in northern Niger when their vehicle broke down during an attempt to reach Europe via Libya.
“But they had been misinformed and embarked on this journey that wasn’t at all what it promised. I made up my mind to henceforth work to get them back on the right path, and this begins with them heading back home.”“I realised that after my graduation, if I should travel to Europe, I would become exactly like one of these migrants, embarking on dangerous routes and ending up homeless because I do not have the right documentation.
Nigeria has seen at least 1.7 million citizens emigrate in the year 2020 alone, according to the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “Some of these youngsters sell all they have to pay for plane tickets, hoping to make it big over there,” Kingsley adds.“I had invested heavily in my trip. I sold everything. That’s why returning home was a very difficult decision to make. To abandon this dream and face my poor parents, who were expecting so much from me.
In dealing with the legal red tape, Sam says, his course on international relations “came quite handy”.But after completing his studies, it was time for Sam to meet his own family. “There were a lot of cold shoulders. They didn’t need to say it. I just felt it. It was very depressing, especially as I struggled to take care of my daughter, who fell sick shortly after our arrival because of the change in weather and environment.
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