A Ghanaian family
won the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery in
Ghana . Like most deprived and under-
privileged Africans, they raised enough
money to buy flight tickets. The father in his
late 50’s, the mother 42, and a son
who was
22 were ready for the life-dream journey to
the land of opportunity where milk and
honey flowed and dollar bills littered the
sidewalks for any interested walker to
pickup – the United States of America. This
was
December of 2006.
Coincidentally, the father knew a Ghanaian
final year student at the University of
Missouri in Columbia , Missouri State USA
who was visiting home on holidays. This
student apparently agreed to be their host
upon arrival in the USA . Finally, this naïve
Muslim family ended up in a small university
town called Columbia , in the State of
Missouri , USA with their student host. The
city of Columbia is the seat of the main
campus of the University of Missouri
system and other smaller colleges. Sooner,
their host graduated and moved out of
Columbia in pursuit of his life dreams. Now,
this family was alone in Columbia with no
other point of reference.
As they struggled to get their feet on the
ground in Columbia by doing menial jobs
and/or taking classes in a college, their son
became ill and was subsequently diagnosed
for a terminal cancer. The family was
eventually advised that their son’s type of
cancer would be better treated at the
University of Kansas Medical Center in
Kansas City , about 150 miles away. That
meant relocation for the entire family. Mind
you: The parents had no jobs nor benefits.
Some how they were all transported to KU
medical center in Kansas City where they
knew nobody and had no resources for
accommodation or funds to feed. They
literarily became destitute and homeless in
the Medical Center and resorted to begging
for alms, as their son lay critically and
terminally ill in a hospital bed. They were
finally told the inevitable news that their
son had no chance of survival and that his
death was a matter of time, etc.
After languishing in the hospital lobby for
about three months, the father begged for
donations from the hospital staff for the
sole purpose of visiting home in Ghana to
sell some landed property and return with
some cash to offset some of the
accumulating bills. He traveled to Ghana and
was not heard from for over four months!
Now the wife was left alone with their
dying son in the hospital. She painfully
decided to make a daunting request. She
asked to be put in contact with the Muslim
Community in Kansas City . Surprisingly, her
request of them was not money for food.
Her request was for the Muslim Community
to make sure her son gets a Muslim burial
when he dies. The Islamic Community
contacted the Ghanaian Community in
Kansas City , but none of their members was
interested enough to visit the dying young
man in the hospital.
Yes. The long expected happened. Their son
died on Friday, July 29, 2011. Now the main
twist in the story: The hospital gave the
woman some money, arranged for her
flight to join her husband in Ghana and
claimed their son’s dead body for research.
What is the message from this? VISA lottery
recipients: Beware! It is not as rosy in
America as you are made to believe.
Americans do not sleep in the afternoon as
the British do. Americans work very hard
for their money. You earn your living in the
United States . If you cannot explain your
source of wealth in the United States , you
are a suspect and most likely a criminal. The
Internal Revenue Service will be knocking
on your doors eventually. Yes. It is a land of
opportunity quite all right, but to get a free
lunch, you have to be declared destitute.
Credited:Alen Ighedosa
