A young Ghanaian man has recounted his turbulent experience with his father while striving hard to break through the odds in a foreign land.
Eric Watson, in an interview on 3fm, narrated how his father connived to have him deported back to Ghana. He said he lost hope when his biological father reported him to law enforcement in the United States as an illegal immigrant.
He said his father made false reports about his first marriage with an African American lady, which would have guaranteed his green card. And permanent stay in the United States.
“I met my first wife in school, and we got married. She filed for me and for some reasons it took more than the usual six months of a response from the immigration office. So I had to follow up on it. I was arrested at the same point for having a fake marriage. This was reported by an unknown caller. Apart from my roommate, nobody knew about it,” he said.
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The young man, formerly known as Eric Okyere, said he had a tough time with his father while schooling. He revealed how his father forced him to pay for house rent while schooling and his refusal to settle his tuition fee. He had no option than to search for a job to see himself through school while living with a fellow Ghanaian.
“I came for schooling here for one year, and I called my dad. He agreed to allow me to stay with him. So I came to America to meet him for the first time in my life at age 26.
“I was excited, but he wasn’t. He asked me to leave the house, and we had stayed for only a few months and asked me to pay rent. I was a student, and I couldn’t afford it. My stepmother loved me so much and paid my school fees for the first semester. But my dad won’t do it.
“I was saving up for the next semester. Then I met a Ghanaian brother and he took me in just like that, and he is the same person that connected me to the job I was doing,” he said.
He talked about how he spent months in jail because of his dad’s reports about allegations of a fake marriage. He disclosed how good Samaritan paid 30,000 dollars to have him released and his decision to remain in the US to pursue his life opportunities.
“When I was arrested, this lady in the church asked about me from my pastor in the church. She had to pay about 30,000 dollars to release me. After, I was asked to choose between going back to Ghana or staying in the US. I chose the US because the system in Ghana wasn’t working. I was processed for court, and the audio of the caller was played in court. It was nobody but my father. I was lost for words, and I nearly collapsed,” he shared.
He now owns two hotels in Ghana and is currently in the Real Estate business. He has a medical transportation business in the US. He has employed about 30 Ghanaian citizens and with high hopes to start more business in Ghana.