From Spain Dream to Slavery in Syria: Ghanaian woman opens up

In search of greener pastures to support her younger siblings, Kumawood actress Louisa Adinkra, who had planned to travel to Spain, ended up being sold into the slave trade in Syria.

In an interview with colleague actress Emelia Brobbey on the Okukuseku Show, aired on April 13, 2026, the actress indicated that her parents passed away when she was 14, after which she moved to Accra to “hustle” and cater for her younger siblings.

According to Louisa Adinkra, while in Accra, she worked at an internet café for some time and saved money, which she intended to use to travel to Spain, as she had always wanted to leave Ghana.

The Kumawood actress said she met a third party, popularly referred to in Ghana as a “connection man,” and gave him money to help facilitate her travel to Spain, only to later realise she had ended up in Syria as a slave.

I almost committed suicide if not for LilWin's support - Louisa Adinkra

The actress further mentioned that it was not easy for her in Syria because, in her words, “the Arabs do not value black people,” and she did not initially know she had been sold into the slave trade.

“I had always wanted to travel to Spain, so I went to see a connection man. By the time I realised, I was sold into the slave trade in Syria. The moment I got there, I knew I had been sold into the slave trade. It wasn’t easy,” she shared.

She said there were many nationals, including people from Ethiopia and Bangladesh, who found themselves in the same situation around 2007.

She recalled that in the room given to them, an Ethiopian lady among them once abused drugs and took her own life, after which the Arabs took her body and dumped it in the desert.

The actress narrated how she was maltreated as a slave, sharing that she single-handedly cleaned an entire three-storey building from morning till evening and slept for only three hours at night.

Louisa Adinkra said it was not easy to return to Ghana because the Syrians had paid money to the individual who took them there, so to gain freedom, one had to refund the money before they would consider letting her go.

She said that, for her, there was no one she could rely on to help raise that money for her freedom.

“When I returned to Ghana, it felt as though I had come back to heaven because there is no place like home. My siblings, who came to meet me at the airport, wept because they thought I had died, as I was seriously ill at the time,” she added.

AK/BAI

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