They Hid on a Ship’s Rudder to Flee Nigeria. They Landed in Brazil.

The 4 stowaways aboard a cargo ship had no concept the place they had been once they had been met by federal law enforcement officials final month at a Brazilian port. Told that they had landed in Brazil, they had been surprised.

They had hopped on the ship whereas it was docked 3,500 miles away — in Lagos, essentially the most populous metropolis within the West African nation of Nigeria.

They didn’t know the place it was going however didn’t care. They had been jobless and determined, they mentioned, and wished to go anyplace that may provide higher prospects.

After rowing out to the vessel, the Ken Wave, they mentioned they climbed into an unlikely house: the 6-foot by 6-foot opening containing the rudder.

Recounting their harrowing journey to The New York Times, they mentioned they spent 14 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean, leaning on chilly metallic, frightened of falling into the churning waters slightly below their toes. Sometimes, they noticed sharks.

“We were so scared, we just kept on praying,” mentioned one of many males, Roman Ebimene Friday.

On day 9, they mentioned they ran out of meals and water. “We licked toothpaste and drank seawater just to have strength,” Mr. Friday mentioned in a phone interview from a shelter in shelter in São Paulo, Brazil, the place he was staying.

“When we informed them we were the federal police of Brazil, they made this face like, ‘huh, we’re in Brazil?’” mentioned Rogerio Lages, chief of the federal police’s maritime division within the state of Espírito Santo, the place the cargo vessel docked.

His unit was summoned to the port of Vitória, about 350 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, on July 10 after a ship ferrying contemporary crew members to the Ken Wave noticed the migrants on the rudder, pleading for assist.

Two of the boys requested to be despatched again to Nigeria, Brazilian authorities mentioned, however Mr. Friday and the fourth stowaway, Thankgod Opemipo Matthew Yeye, determined to remain and have utilized for refugee standing.

Mr. Friday, 35, who’s from Bayelsa, a state within the Niger Delta, a polluted petroleum-producing area, mentioned he had been on the lookout for work in Lagos for nearly two years, hoping to assist help his widowed mom and his three youthful siblings.

He had so little cash, he mentioned he spent nights sleeping beneath a bridge.

“I’m thinking of how to be a better person,’’ Mr. Friday said, explaining why he left Nigeria, “so I chose this path to make a better future and to lay a foundation for my younger brothers.”

Mr. Yeye, 38, mentioned he had a small peanut and palm oil farm in Lagos State that was devastated by floods earlier this yr, leaving him, his spouse and two younger youngsters homeless and hungry.

“There was a time that I thought of committing suicide,’’ he said, “but God helped me and I escaped through that.”

Beyond his private travails, Mr. Yeye mentioned he believes Nigeria is changing into more and more harmful. “We have a lot of security challenges,’’ he said. “I couldn’t cope anymore, so I decided to leave.”

Everyday life has been a battle for a lot of Nigerians lately because the nation has battled crises in practically each area: an Islamist insurgency, a spate of kidnappings and lethal preventing between farmers and herders over land in a nation whose inhabitants is hovering.

There are pockets of wealth in locations like Lagos, with its funding banks, artwork galleries and elaborate weddings of elites that draw lots of of friends. But for a lot of Nigerians, unemployment is rampant, serving to to gasoline a significant exodus.

The variety of migrants from Nigeria, which has a inhabitants of about 224 million folks, elevated threefold between 2009 and 2019, in response to the Center for Global Development.

As of the top of 2020, Nigeria ranked within the high 10 nations with the biggest numbers of individuals residing overseas, in response to United Nations Data.

“We see very desperate people either fleeing conflict or fleeing the degradation of living conditions due to climate change or due to other social factors,” mentioned Oscar Sánchez Piñeiro, the deputy head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights workplace in Brazil.

Brazil is a significant vacation spot for migrants from different elements of Latin America. Since 2018, it has granted everlasting asylum to just about 100,000 refugees, Mr. Piñeiro mentioned, greater than another nation within the area.

Migrant rights are enshrined in Brazil’s structure: They are entitled to equal therapy and entry to authorities companies resembling well being care, training and social safety packages, even when they arrive with out documentation. People from South America are robotically eligible to use for Brazilian residency.

The nation has additionally change into a haven from migrants a lot farther away. Since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan two years in the past, Brazil has issued about 9,000 humanitarian visas to Afghans. It has additionally taken in smaller numbers of migrants from Syria, Angola and Congo.

But regardless of the nation’s welcoming angle towards migrants, there are nonetheless vital challenges, particularly for these like Mr. Friday and Mr. Yeye who arrive from African nations.

In 2020, African immigrants earned a median of about $500 a month, whereas European immigrants earned roughly $3,400 a month, in response to the newest information out there from Brazil’s International Migration Observatory, a authorities analysis company. The state of affairs is even worse for refugees and asylum seekers, who are inclined to earn among the many lowest incomes and work in service sector jobs.

The disparity is grounded in a number of components, in response to the observatory and consultants. Many Europeans are inclined to arrive in Brazil having already lined up work, whereas Africans, usually fleeing grim financial conditions, include no job prospects. Black migrants have additionally been victims of the racism and xenophobia that programs by elements of Brazilian society.

Still, Mr. Yeye and Mr. Friday, after managing to outlive an ocean crossing on a ship’s rudder, discover themselves grateful at having arrived of their unplanned vacation spot.

They not too long ago obtained work permits and have began making use of for jobs.

“I’m really hoping to get a job interview,’’ Mr. Yeye said. “I think that’s the next thing for me now. I really need a job now to just take care of myself, my family.”

He mentioned he hopes to earn sufficient to deliver his household to Brazil.

Both males have been taken in at Casa do Migrante, a migrant shelter in São Paulo the place they’re recovering from their journey. They have gotten assist navigating immigration paperwork, signing up for Portuguese classes and studying about Brazilian customs and tradition.

“I was not even expecting that I was coming to Brazil, but I found myself in Brazil, and it is a better place,’’ Mr. Friday said. “I’m very, very happy.”

Neither knew a lot concerning the nation other than its well-known soccer workforce, they mentioned. Now, they’re planning to make it their dwelling.

“So far,’’ Mr. Yeye mentioned, “I discover that Brazilians are pleasant, very loving folks.’’

Dionne Searcey contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.