的绳子系于船舵，大概是某位前任偷渡客的杰作。
它们悬在水面上岌岌可危，但累极的时候，也只有它了。
在外人看来，如此冒着生命危险在大海上漂流，几乎就是疯了，但对于尼日利亚人来说，出海也许是仅剩的生机。
经济方面，尼日利亚是典型的能源国，石油和天然气占总出口收入的90%以上，因此腐败、官商勾结等现象屡见不鲜，选举舞弊也几乎是公开的秘密。
人口构成方面，尼日利亚有250多个民族，光语言就五百多种，
这就已经够乱了，但他们还有复杂的信仰问题：北部人大多信伊斯兰，南部人又大多信基督，还有一些非洲本土宗教夹在中间.......
不难想象这种地方会有多乱了........
近几年受疫情和能源价格影响，尼日利亚经济受到不小冲击；
去年，一场十年最大洪水又让人们的生活雪上加霜，140万人流离失所.......
在这种压力下，选择铤而走险，偷渡欧洲的人不在少数。
然而由于尼日利亚的地理位置，这一步并不好走。
向南，跟星期五一行四人一样，在大西洋上扒船，生死未卜。
向北，先是穿越一望无际的撒哈拉大漠。这一步活下来了，还得坐严重超载的橡皮艇渡过地中海.....
据国际移民组织（IOM）统计，今年已经有1200名尼日利亚人在北线丧生了。
这还只是七月份的数据，还有五个月呢.......
如今趴在船舵上的一行四人，只能说是时代浪潮中的一点浪花吧.......
以星期五为例，他在拉各斯街头流浪了三年，都找不到工作。
他说：“在尼日利亚的每一天都充斥着犯罪与邪恶，人们自相残杀、恐怖袭击不时出现、绑架案成为日常.......”
“我只想要个更光明的未来。”
船舵上，紧挨着星期五坐的是感谢上帝·耶耶（Thankgod
Yeye），他本来经营着一间农场，但在去年的洪水之后，他变得一无所有，也没有保险能弥补他的损失。
今年的总统选举，成了压垮耶耶的最后一根稻草。
他曾将选举视作希望，但今年的选举又出了不少舞弊丑闻，他的希望终于还是落空了。
更可悲的是，在如此复杂的局势下，他也不可能了解真相。
耶耶决定，是时候离开了。
油轮驶入壮阔的南太平洋，海浪时不时溅起水花，洇湿他们的裤脚。四人在不适、无聊与恐惧中度过了最初的几天。
此时的他们仍不知道，欧洲已经越来越远了。
第五天
掰着手指头数到了五，他们终于意识到危险的临近。
食物是不够的。早就转成了定时定量配给，那最多只能让他们饿不死，暂时的。
睡眠是不足的。没人敢真正沉睡，万一风暴来了，一条命掉进海里，连个水花都溅不起来。
船舵无时无刻不在转动，他们不敢站着，怕被甩下去。
需要上厕所的时候，他们就将绳子系在腰间，侧过身解决。
实在撑不住了，就去网里眯一会儿，也只能一会儿。因为要不了多久就会被突如其来的坠落感惊醒，或者被冻醒。
有时渔网松了，他们用不熟练的手法重新系紧，接下来就担心它再松。
星期五说：“如果网破了，你会直接掉进水里，然后你就没了，彻底的。没有营救的可能，没人知道你掉在哪。”
太阳一次次沉入海平线，陆地不见影踪。星期五一直盯着手表上的时间，数日子的手从右换到左。
渔网系了又系，每餐的食物分量越来越少，喝到的水越来越小口。他们口干舌燥，肚子饿得生疼。
四个人越来越虚弱，终于完全不再说话，只剩一点信念在脑海盘旋：
千万别被大海吞噬。
第十天
四个人心里担心着同样的事，又很默契地避之不谈。这一天，担心终于成为了现实。
食物和水都用光了。
嘴唇早已皲裂，海风吹得裂口生疼。风平浪静的时候，甚至能感觉到胃在徒劳地蠕动。
耶耶说：“那是最困难的时刻，生命中头一次，我真正，真正理解了水到底意味着什么。”
在某个时刻，耶耶打破了沉默，告诉兄弟们他在求雨。他们大笑出声：
就算求来了，你怎么收集呢？反而雨越大，越危险。
笑声逐渐止息，绝望的情绪重新蔓延开来，他们越来越渴。
星期五盯着表上的秒针，想让它走快些，只无奈地发现秒针喜欢跟人对着干。
星期五成功用绳子和饼干的包装纸做了个简易的兜水装置，靠着它收集了些海水给兄弟们喝。实在饿了，就舔一舔牙膏。
几个人都没出过海，不知道海水只会让人更渴。
其中一人还开始剧烈呕吐，险些掉进海里，幸亏星期五抓了一把。
“我是当时仅剩的，还有力气的人。我必须抓住他。”
死亡逐渐临近，所有人都知道，但他们已经没有力气开口了。
为了分散注意力，星期五开始独自跨坐在船舵上，徒劳地盯着海平线，期待着那里出现些海水之外的东西。
第13天，他看到了一头鲸鱼。
“我人生第一次见到这样的生物，如果在家乡，我跟人说自己见到了鲸鱼，他们会说我在撒谎，但那天，我坐在船舵上，看见了鲸鱼。”
“那一刻我忘记了自己又渴又饿，我看着那头鲸鱼，仿佛看到上帝创世。很神圣的一刻。”
第十四天
可能鲸鱼真的给他们带来了好运。
第14天，当海平线上出现第一缕曙光时，星期五又回到了船舵边缘，这时他感觉到发动机的振动逐渐减小，船变慢了。
接着，死寂了14天的海平线似乎终于出现了一点变化。
那是陆地。
紧接着是各种建筑，然后视野里出现了一条船。
油轮终于要靠岸了。
当人们发现四名偷渡客时，星期五依旧保持着跨坐的姿势。对面的船传来一声呼喊：
“你们知道自己在哪吗？”
星期五试图大声回应，但几天没喝水，喉咙着火一样疼，一个字都说不出来。
两个小时后，四人终于迎来了警卫队和一大桶水。
“这儿是巴西。”他们说。
一番安顿之后，四人用借来的手机给家人打电话报了平安，这次和死神擦肩而过，他们都有很多话说。
接下来就是安置的问题。目标从欧洲一下变成南美，几个人都有点无法接受。
在度过了最初的震惊之后，其中两人当即决定返回尼日利亚，这一趟算是白跑了.......
耶耶和星期五则决定留下来，把这里当做新家。圣保罗的一家庇护所收留了他们，目前两人还在学葡萄牙语。
等到语言关过了，耶耶希望在巴西创业，把妻儿接过来。
至于星期五，他没有那么多想法，还在努力适应。
虽然第差点死在海上，但在踏上新家之后，他感觉过去在尼日利亚的那种无力感渐渐消失了。
两人的未来究竟如何着实很难预料，黑人在巴西比较难找到好工作。
但有一件事可以确定：无论未来的日子多难，也难不过海上这14天了.......
这种困难都能熬过来的人，想必很难再被生活所打倒了吧.........
Fourteen days across the Atlantic, perched on a ship's
rudder
Joel Gunter - BBC News
Four Nigerian stowaways set out for Europe on the rudder of a
tanker. They had no idea they were bound for Brazil, and a two-week
ocean voyage that would nearly kill them.
A little after midnight on 27 June, Roman Ebimene Friday gathered
up the food he had been collecting for a few months and set out in
the dark for the large commercial port in the city of Lagos,
Nigeria. Earlier that day, Friday had spotted a 620-foot (190m)
tanker docked at the port and decided that it would be the ship to
deliver him to Europe.
Friday was aiming for the tanker's rudder - the only accessible
point on its massive hull for a person who isn't supposed to be
aboard. There was no way to bridge the gap from the dock to the
rudder, other than convince a fisherman to ferry him across. 'He
was a holy man, that fisherman,' Friday recalled. 'He did not ask
for money. He could see that I wanted to leave.'
The fisherman sidled up to the rudder and Friday, 35, pulled
himself up, hauling his food bag behind him on a rope. As he
steadied himself he saw, to his surprise, three faces in the dark.
He was the last of four men with the same idea. 'I was scared, at
first,' Friday said. 'But they were black Africans, my
brothers.'
Fearful of being caught, the four men perched silently on the
rudder for the next 15 hours. At 5pm, they felt the ship's giant
engines shudder to life. Over the din, they shouted a few words.
They were all aiming for Europe. They expected to be shipmates for
as long as a week.
The tanker, called the Ken Wave, pushed out from the port and
headed to sea - the beginning of a perilous two-week ocean voyage
that would bring the stowaways close to death.
Day one
As Lagos receded behind them, the men tried and failed to find
comfortable positions on the rudder, which moved constantly as it
steered the ship. There was precious little space to stand, and the
only place to lie was in one of two small nets strung precariously
over the water, by previous stowaways, Friday assumed.
It can be hard to understand, from the outside, what drives a
person to risk their life on a rudder or a rickety boat across the
Mediterranean. But the decision comes easy when you have already
lost hope, Friday said.
'In Nigeria there are no jobs, no money and no way for me to feed
my younger brothers and my mother,' he said. 'I am the first born
son and my father died 20 years ago, so I should take care of my
family, but I cannot.'
Instead he had spent three years living on and off the street in
Lagos, trying to find work. Each day in Nigeria was a gauntlet of
'crime and sin,' he said. 'People fighting, killing each other,
terrorists attacking, kidnappers. I want a brighter future than
that.'
Perched next to Friday on the rudder of the tanker was Thankgod
Opemipo Matthew Yeye, a Pentecostal minister, businessman and
father of two whose peanut and palm oil farm had washed away in the
devastating floods that hit Nigeria last year. There had been no
fallback or insurance to cover the loss.
'My business was destroyed and my family became homeless. And that
was the genesis of my decision to leave,' he said.
Yeye's decision became final after the recent presidential
election, which was marred by anomalies and allegations of vote
rigging. 'The election had been our hope,' he said. 'But we know
Nigeria well, we know the system is corrupt.' So, without telling
his family, he left his sister's home at night and set out for the
port, where he knew the Ken Wave was waiting to depart.
Nigeria has seen an exodus of people like Yeye and Friday in recent
years, via regular and irregular routes, driven by recessions and
record unemployment levels. Many travel across the Sahara and the
Mediterranean, where at least 1,200 Nigerians have died already
this year, according to the UN.
Some choose to stow away. Last year, three men climbed on a rudder
in a similar fashion to Friday and Yeye, and their journey took
them 2,500 miles to the Canary islands, an entry point to Spain.
Friday and Yeye believed they were following a similar route.
With their two companions, William and Zeze, they passed the first
few days on the ship in a mixture of boredom, discomfort, and fear,
talking only a little, praying often and trying to stay awake, as
the Ken Wave pushed into the vast stretch of the south Atlantic for
the 3,500 mile journey to Brazil.
Day five
In some ways, ship stowaways are safer than those who cross parts
of the Sahara on foot or the Mediterranean on rickety wooden boats.
But as day five passed, Friday and Yeye began to reckon with the
specific dangers of their situation.
They were already weak from rationing their food and tired from
lack of sleep. They tied a rope around their waists when they
needed to pee off the side of the rudder. When the water was rough,
waves lashed them. 'We were all scared of the big waves,' Yeye
said. 'I had never seen the ocean before but I used to watch
documentaries about storms and I had seen big ships rocked from
side to side by waves.' Sleep was virtually impossible. 'You try
not to even close your eyes,' Friday said. 'The rudder turns 24
hours a day, seven days a week, you have to constantly be
alert.'
The nets came loose and had to be inexpertly refastened. They lay
in them again but Friday thought only of being awoken by the sudden
feeling of falling and the hit of cold below. 'If the net breaks,
you go straight into the water and you are gone,' he said. And you
really were gone. There's no chance of rescue at sea when no-one
knows you're lost.
Day passed into night and into day again. The men grew weaker and
stopped talking entirely. Friday kept track of the time on his
wristwatch. He tried to remember the day. The nets came loose again
and were refastened. The food was rationed in smaller parcels, the
water in smaller sips. Their mouths began to dry out. Their
stomachs ached. They tried to remain vigilant and tried not to fall
in.
Day 10
Day 10 brought the moment the four had been quietly dreading. Some
time in the morning, they ate the last of their food and drank the
last of their water. All four were already painfully hungry from
spacing out the meagre rations they had. 'This was the hardest
moment of all,' Yeye said. 'My mouth was dry and completely
cracked. For the first time in my life I really understood the
meaning of water.'
There were a few lighter moments. Yeye told his brothers he was
praying for rain and they laughed at him. What are you going to do
with rain? they cried. How will you collect it? Rain was only
dangerous for them, they chided. The laughter subsided. Hour by
hour, they became more thirsty. Time seemed to move more
slowly.
The next day, Friday managed to attach a torn cellophane biscuit
wrapper to a length of rope and lower it into the ocean, he said,
and collect small mouthfuls of salty water for them to drink. They
licked toothpaste.
On day 12, sick from salty ocean water, one of the other men began
to vomit from the side of the rudder block. 'He was looking
straight down into the water and vomiting,' Friday said. 'He had no
strength to hold himself. He was about to fall. I was the only
person who had strength left and I had to grab hold of him.'
The men were entering the phase of hunger and thirst that brings
you close to death. In an effort to distract himself, Friday began
to sit on the edge of the rudder alone, one leg hanging either
side, scanning the ocean in vain for anything to interrupt the long
unbroken line of the horizon.
What the ocean gave him, on the 13th day of the voyage, was a
whale.
'The first time in my life I have seen such a thing!' he said,
laughing at the memory. 'If I told anyone at home I had seen a
whale they will say I am lying. But I sat on the rudder and I saw a
whale. And I forgot I was hungry and thirsty. I watched the whale
and it was like watching creation. A holy moment.'
Day 14
As the first light appeared on the horizon on day 14 of the voyage,
Friday was back on the edge of the rudder, staring into the
distance, when he felt the ship's mighty engines begin to slow.
Then, in the dim light, in the distance, he saw what looked like
land. Then buildings. Then a boat.
The Ken Wave was stopping off the coast to take on a fresh crew,
and the resupply boat spotted the men. 'Do you know where you are?'
came a shout. Friday tried to shout back that he had no idea, but
his throat was too dry. The boat left, then two hours later, in the
clearer light, a police dinghy appeared. An officer stretched out a
bottle of water to Friday. 'You are in Brazil,' he said.
Safely back on dry land, the migrants used borrowed phones to call
their families. Friday and Yeye's two fellow migrants, William and
Zeze, decided to take up an offer of returning directly to Nigeria.
Friday and Yeye decided to make Brazil their home. 'We are joyful
to be here,' Yeye said. 'It is a new beginning.'
They will likely face challenges. Migrants have automatic rights to
healthcare and other benefits in Brazil, but African migrants often
face racism and struggle to find well-paid work. Friday and Yeye
have been taken in by a shelter in São Paulo and are being assisted
by a Catholic mission, Missao Paz, with Portuguese lessons and
other support. Yeye wants to start a new business and bring his
wife and children over.
Friday is focused on the more immediate future. 'I am in a new
place, I am trying to adapt, I am trying to learn the language,' he
said. The first journey he had ever made out of Nigeria had nearly
killed him, but as the days passed after his rescue, he felt the
hopelessness that had dogged him back home begin to ebb, he
said.
