Portage Collegiate Institute's Roving Campus class had a special speaker come in this week.

The class welcomed Seidu Mohammed, a Ghanaian refugee, who shared his story of claiming asylum in Canada.

"We want people to know how it is to be a refugee," says Mohammed. "It wasn't a choice, you are forced to be a refugee, and we're talking about it so that we can convince people how hard it is. Sometimes we fled to various countries and came to seek a better life in a different country."

His story begins in Ghana, where the once-promising soccer star faced persecution for his sexual identity. Mohammed made the trek from Ghana to Brazil, and then from there through Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, to eventually end up in Canada.

"Where you are not welcome, some country will welcome you," says Mohammed. "It's difficult to see your country not caring about you. (They) don't care about your freedom and don't care about human rights. But, the country that cares about human rights cares about freedom and cares about you is the country that you have to be in."

Mohammed made the journey with Razak Iyal, who fled Ghana due to fear of death. The pair crossed the border to Canada on Christmas eve of 2016. Both men lost fingers during the journey because of frostbite. Now, he's trying to change the perception of refugees.

"We're not bad people. We came here as people with honour, with respect, and also to make the country grow as we are in it," says Mohammed. "So, we want them to know we came here for a better life to take care of our families because our families back home don't do anything because of what is in our (home) country, like war and corruption."

Seidu Mohammed won his court case in 2017 and has been allowed to stay in Canada ever since.

"Winnipeg has been wonderful to me. There are communities in Manitoba that are helping me a lot. We got a lot of help from them. They know what's needed for us and what we are going through."

During the journey, the pair were constantly robbed, threatened and faced hardships like dehydration, starvation, and language barriers.

"Canada is the country that I want to live in and also help grow this country, so I'm very grateful," he says. "When I came here, I didn't get bad treatment, like the way I got through the United States. When I came here, I saw a lot of love and a lot of courage. You can see how the communities are helping refugees, and we want to see more of that."

Since their arrival, the pair have had their stories captured and made into the book Between Everything and Nothing by Joe Meno.