The village Justice calls home
Panorama have returned to West Africa to once again pick up the trail of migrants who are willing to risk everything for the chance of a new life in Europe.
Following on from my work in Destination Europe in September 2007 and Destination UK in January 2008, I have kept a travel log of the team's experiences.
In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about everything from the palpable emotion of a cave that was once used to process slaves being shipped to America, to the intrigue of introducing a group of small children to the myriad intricacies of satellite links, to the need to forego air conditioning for the sake of the camera.
The village that Justice calls home
Ghana, Cape Coast - I've just entered an ancient brick tunnel, humming with mosquitoes and plunging steeply into the earth, slippery cobblestones underfoot. Outside the ocean slams into harbour walls, and fishermen bring in the daily catch.
The temperature out there is hovering around 40 degrees. Directly above me is an old fort, dating back to the 17th century. It's called . It was run by the British and was, for a time, at the heart of the slave trade, shipping West Africans from here to the Americas.
These tunnels are the dungeons where our ancestors processed them before they were chained to one another, led down the beach and crammed into wooden slave ships.
It's so dark, so thick with spirits, that I can't wait to get back to the surface.
In the afternoon we arrive at the small town of Effiakuma. It's a place I've been to before. In fact, there's a story here which has led me to make two films for Panorama and to write a book about the experience. I am back again to do a third Panorama programme.
Regular viewers might recall that two years ago I reported on a group of
determined to get to Europe. They travelled across the Sahara, and then attempted to sail the Mediterranean. It was then they were hit by tragedy - their boat capsized and they ended up clinging to a fishing net for three nights and three days. Some drank sea water to stay alive. They were close to death when they were finally rescued by the Italian Navy.
One of their number was a man called Justice Amin. He was brought up in Ghana by a medicine man and had the most extraordinary tale to tell. It was he I wrote the book about. It's called
Now, I find myself driving through his home town of Effiakuma, meeting his brother and sister and several of his friends. I hand out copies of the book and they sit on dusty walls or beneath trees and begin devouring the text, examining each page for a mention of their names.
The idea is to find a fresh group of men who plan to make the same journey to Europe this summer. We intend to follow them, as we track this ongoing story of the risks that desperation can drive people to take.
Here, we are introduced to a group of four. One of them is just 15-years-old. They say they have been planning the journey for years. They say there is nothing for them here, and their only hope of prosperity and fulfilment lies in Europe.
I point out that Europe is going through an economic downturn and that the country they are likely to end up in, Italy, will not be welcoming. Berlusconi recently called illegal immigrants "an army of evil." They are undeterred.
Check back next week as we attempt to put Justice in touch with the young men contemplating the journey to Europe.
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