For at least seven hours, the two trudged through snowy fields with the temperature hovering around the –18 C mark, without the wind chill factored in.
They finally came upon Highway 75, near the Emerson, Man., border crossing.
The two men tried for hours to flag down trucks passing them by on the highway. A truck driver finally stopped and called 911 to get medical help for the men who were disoriented and cold. It is unclear how they managed to cross the border without being stopped.
They've both been in hospital since the trucker got them help, recovering in a specialised burn ward of Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre.
"If not for him, we would have died in that snow," said Mohammed. "Nobody stopped till this Good Samaritan, God sent [this] man.… We were about to give up."
On Monday, Mohammed and his friend met the Good Samaritan for the first time since the morning of Christmas Eve.
"He was crying. We all started crying because he saved our lives," Mohammed said.
Mohammed is one of hundreds of refugees this year that have crossed the Canada-U.S. border into Manitoba between ports of entry.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency figures, there's been a fivefold increase in the number of refugee claimants crossing between ports of entry in the past three years.
The Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement requires refugees to seek asylum in the first country they arrive, with a few exceptions.
Some advocates say the agreement is the reason refugees sometimes put their lives at risk sneaking into countries like Canada.
"If the Safe Third Country Agreement would be scrapped, then these people would not be risking their lives through the prairie open field," said Bashir Khan, a Winnipeg immigration and refugee lawyer who has taken on the Ghanaian refugees' case.
They'd be able to present themselves right at the border," he said.
Mohammed has filed an application for refugee status. Refugee claims are typically heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada within two months.
He is hopeful he'll be able to stay and work in Canada and is grateful for all the help he's received from various groups, including the local Ghanaian community.
"I want to say thank you to all of you who show caring."
Even though he was especially saddened by news from his doctors that he will lose a toe since he's an avid soccer player, Mohammed said it's a price he's willing to pay for freedom and a better life.
"The journey was worth it. I'm happy I'm here. To go back, I lose my life," he said.
sasyghana.com