Leaving United States, Black Americans find a home in Ghana

DW (English)

Ghana has been reaching out to the African diaspora, particularly to Black Americans, offering them a chance to reconnect with the continent through citizenship. It's part of a drive to grow the country's profile as a cultural and tourism hub.

Transcript

00:00It's a regular afternoon at the Boers' home in Accra.

00:05They moved to Ghana from Florida in the U.S. back in 2023.

00:10After visiting several times as tourists,

00:13they decided to relocate here and set up a business.

00:17Keisha says the move wasn't a difficult choice.

00:23I am an African woman just because how do we identify who we are?

00:27You look at your skin, right?

00:29So I didn't need that to tell me that I'm African.

00:32Anywhere that I go in the world, if someone looks at me, I'm melanated.

00:35But my ancestors who wanted to return and come back home,

00:38those ancestors who never made it back,

00:41their dying wish was to come back to their home and they never made it.

00:47That passport for me is for them.

00:50But it wasn't just a tribute to the ancestors.

00:54She and her husband were getting more and more worried

00:57about their children's future back in the U.S.,

01:00especially for their teenage son.

01:04In America, being a black male with locks who's very tall for his age,

01:09he is treated like a threat.

01:13In schools, he's treated...

01:17Discipline is always the first step in dealing with my son.

01:23You're going to get a detention. You're going to get without exploration.

01:27In 2019, Ghana launched the Year of the Return

01:31to attract black people from around the world.

01:34Recently, the largest group so far was granted citizenship.

01:38More than 500 people, many of them black Americans.

01:42Deidre Gordon is one of them.

01:44She came from Brooklyn, New York, and she's now set up a Jamaican food truck.

01:50It just feels good to be...

01:54to have a connection to an African country as an African American,

01:58as a black American, right?

02:00Because back in America, we...

02:03we don't have anything to trace our roots to but Africa.

02:10And to have that connection here, I feel like, again, I've done something right.

02:18The government describes the program as an investment opportunity,

02:21but for many, it's more than just money.

02:24That connection, that forever relieves that person,

02:27you know, who have been struggling over years to know,

02:32where do I come from? Why am I of this color?

02:36Where could my great-great-grandparents have come from?

02:39That kind of, you know, spiritual healing and connection

02:43can be more uplifting than business.

02:47That's the deep link the Boas family have tapped into.

02:50Keisha's dad was a proud pan-Africanist,

02:53but he never made it to the continent.

02:55Resettling in Ghana has not only been an investment in her family's future,

03:00but also the final fulfillment in her dad's lifelong dream.

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