Opinion
Ghana: A place for African Americans, people of African descent to resettle
By Efam Dovi
After passing the “Right of Abode” law, which grants African Americans an indefinite “right to stay,” Ghana became the first African country to open its doors to people of African descent to settle in the country. African Americans and Afro-Caribbean people have slowly trickled back but the process of obtaining a permanent resident status is long and frustrating.
In Prampram, a town just an hour’s drive east of Ghana’s capital Accra, many holiday houses line the shores of the South Atlantic Ocean. One of them belongs to Jerome Thompson.
Located only 500 metres (164 feet) from the water, Thompson’s house is resilient to the effects of the salt and wind. The floors, windows and doors are made of hard wood. His self-designed furniture is made from quality Ghanaian timber and hand-carved by local artisans.
“The ocean helps me fall asleep and wakes me up in the morning,” says Thompson, an African American retiree taking a stroll on the beach where palm trees shade hand-carved canoes. “Where else can I live this close to the ocean? It would cost me millions of dollars!”
Thompson, a native of Maryland in the United States, retired to Ghana 11 years ago. He first visited the West African country on a tour in 2000.
“I fell in love with Ghana and its people,” he recalled, during an interview with Africa Renewal. “It was good seeing black people, my people, in charge of the country – Ghana.”
That trip took him to many attractions across the country, including the Cape Coast Castle from where centuries ago millions of Africans walked through the infamous “Door of No Return” into slave ships bound for plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean, never to set foot in their homelands again.
But for their descendants, like Thompson, the sign that hangs on that infamous door today reads: “Door of Return”.
“I was so ready to turn my back on the United States,” he says, adding: “We did so much for the US, yet they don’t want to see us as first-class citizens.”
A feeling of belonging
Thompson is one of the 20 or so African Americans and other people from the diaspora of African descent who have found a home in this fishing community, attracted by the beaches and the peace and tranquility the town offers away from the hustle and bustle of the capital Accra.
According to 2014 estimates, more than 3,000 African Americans and Afro Caribbean people live in Ghana, a country of about 26 million people.
Whatever their motives, Ghana, the first sub-Saharan Africa country to shake off colonial rule 58 years ago, has become the destination of choice for diasporans looking for a spiritual home and an ancestral connection in Africa. While some returnees have gone through the emotional journey of tracing their families through DNA testing, for the majority who just come to visit, or to settle like Thompson, the feeling of being “home” on the continent is satisfying.
