A 31-year-old Ghanaian man has found himself stranded in Barbados after he arrived from St Vincent with the intention to connect to his homeland via London last Thursday.
With no money and unable to make contact with his family, John Minimade, a medical student, had to sleep at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) on Thursday and Friday, before two Good Samaritans came to his rescue.
Minimade, who studies at the American University in Kingstown, has been served a double blow because this unexpected twist threatens his chances to pay final respects to his father. He was also informed he could not fly out of Barbados unless equipped with a transit visa. He was scheduled to board a Thomas Cook flight to Manchester, and a British Airways flight to London and then onto Ghana.
“I lost my father, so I am to go back to Ghana for the funeral. Getting the money was a problem, so a friend in the US booked the ticket for me . . . . When I got here I learnt it would not be possible for me to do the transiting without the visa. I was originally told as long as I did not change airports, I would not need the transit visa. It was only after I got here, I was told no I could not go that way,” he told the MIDWEEK NATION yesterday. (RA)
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