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Opinions of Monday, 11 September 2023

Columnist: Eric Murphy Asare

The gifted boot - The chronicles of a traveler

A man with a luggage A man with a luggage

I have told you the awry of the journey has humbled me after I was denied by Brazilian Airlines, Latam, but today I am taking you through another episode of "The Land of No Return- The Chronicles of a Traveler".

Well, now I can be proud of the fact that I met my Christian family. (The Seventh-Day Adventist Church), the church that has over the years served as a home for the homeless, hope for the hopeless, and comfort for the weary. The Marelina Adventist church is no exception.

Here, I met Fabiola, an aged married janitor who wholeheartedly has dedicated her life to the service of the lord, lest I forget, here in Guarulhos, the aged are more hospitable than the youth, and this can be replicated in the house of God, the youth are not welcoming at all, however, I met Stefanny, a beautiful young college lady, who is more of a mummy's daughter, very calm and reserved person.

I had the chance to meet Paloma, an exquisite lady of a class, who seems independent and the dream of every man, including my poor self, but hey, here in Marelina, if you messed up with someone's lady, you will be shot, so in as much as I'm into her, it's better to keep shut, the street won't take that, in actual sense, discrimination among the fellows here is extreme.

Stefanny, Paloma, Richel, and Felipe, my newfound friends started lecturing me on the basics of the Portuguese language at least that will keep me going.

On Monday, September 4, I received a call from Andriana, also a church member, who introduced me to a company where I could work on a part-time basis for a day.

The call which came around 9:27 a.m. had me to report at the office at exactly 10 a.m, quickly, I washed down, called Uber, and got to the office at exactly 10 a.m.

The company, Argius, only employed its Portuguese citizens but God showed me mercy, I met the chief security, who happily welcomed me, I told him I was unable to speak Portuguese, and he also told me he didn't speak English but the excitement on his face gave me joy, he then introduced me to a man I believe was the reason I got the job, the man took me inside and met with my senior supervisor and driver, who I couldn't not know their names.

My supervisor asked about my document, and then told me, we would be embarking on a 4-hour journey and would return home at 10 pm.

He asked me if I had a backpack, shoes, water, and food for the journey, I answered no, he smiled and quickly called the man whom I believe was the reason I got the job.

The man, Rumelu came, gave me his boot, and told me, It's well, I felt tears running down my cheeks, but I quickly embraced and promised myself that the journey had started.

I had on me, one T-shirt and one pair of trousers after I lost everything, I only had 10 reais and my good friend Sulley also gave me 20 dollars which is 92 reais.

The company also gave me 75 reais after working for 13 hours. The story of the Ghanaian journalist living in South America is a pathetic one, but I hope my continued writeup will help you embrace the reality of life and how challenging life can be at some point you least expect it.