‘A soul mission’: The African Americans moving to Ghana

Accra, Ghana – Ashley Haruna ne'er intended to enactment successful Ghana. But everything changed for the 28-year-old wellness manager erstwhile she stood facing a acheronian compartment wrong the chromatic walls of Cape Coast Castle. As the circuit usher explained that galore of the enslaved radical who’d erstwhile been held determination had ended up successful Haiti, Haruna says she “felt something”.

Having grown up successful the United States to Haitian parents, she realised “my ancestors could’ve passed done here. This place. This ground.

“I wasn’t looking for that,” she reflects. “But it recovered me.”

The feeling it stirred wrong her lone grew erstwhile she returned location to Ohio. After a fewer months, with her family’s reluctant approval, she returned to Ghana – for good.

That was successful December 2021, and Haruna was pursuing successful the footsteps of galore different African Americans who had sought to reconnect with the state that whitethorn erstwhile person been location to their ancestors.

In the 1950s, Ghana’s archetypal premier curate and president, Kwame Nkrumah, championed the diaspora’s instrumentality arsenic portion of his Pan-African imagination and nation-building efforts. During the US civilian rights movement, helium invited Black American activists, including W E B Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Julian Bond, to relocate to Ghana. In the 1960s, De Bois moved there, arsenic did writer Maya Angelou.

Ghanaian leaders proceed to promote the African diaspora to reconnect and relocate. In 2019, the “Year of Return”, marking 400 years since the archetypal enslaved Africans arrived successful Virginia, much than 200 radical from the US and the Caribbean received Ghanaian citizenship. In 2024, arsenic portion of the government’s “Beyond the Return” inaugural – the aforesaid programme that encouraged Haruna to determination to Ghana – 524 African diasporans were granted citizenship.

But, arsenic Haruna discovered, gathering a caller beingness successful Ghana comes with challenges.

President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, 2nd from right, talks with 93-year-old American student W E B Du Bois soon earlier opening the World Peace Conference successful Accra, Ghana, connected June 21, 1962 [AP Photo]

Villa Diaspora

Her archetypal flat was located 2 hours northbound of Accra, successful the mountainous Eastern Region, and portion Haruna had imagined herself integrating into a section community, she alternatively recovered isolation. With nary market stores adjacent and nary 1 to assistance reply her questions – similar however to run a state stove oregon what to bash erstwhile the h2o stops moving – she recovered herself feeling unsocial and frustrated.

She recalled a YouTube video she’d seen portion inactive successful the US astir a spot called Villa Diaspora – a co-living abstraction wherever the owner, herself a “returnee”, arsenic African Americans relocating to Ghana notation to themselves, helps others navigate their caller lives successful the country. Haruna dug done her browser past until she recovered the video. A week later, she moved into the villa successful an upscale suburb of Accra.

In the lukewarm communal surviving country and room she shared with 2 different African-American tenants, she learned however to navigate the applicable and taste challenges of figuring retired her caller location – from getting an recognition paper to learning to accidental “please” earlier each sentence.

When Haruna was injured successful a car accident, it was the villa’s owner, Michelle Konadu, 37, and the assemblage of erstwhile tenants who helped her. The villa became her lifeline. Like the different tenants – who thin to enactment for betwixt 3 and 9 months – Haruna moved retired of the villa aft a while, but it is inactive Konadu she calls erstwhile she needs help.

⁠Ashley Haruna sits successful the room astatine Villa Diaspora, a co-living abstraction successful Kwabenya, a suburb of Accra [Alfred Quartey/Al Jazeera]

‘They privation healing’

Konadu knows the feeling of being caught betwixt worlds. Born and raised successful New York City to Ghanaian parents, her household flat was a landing spot for visiting relatives, distant cousins and friends of friends. “We were ever lodging someone,” she says.

It wasn’t until she visited Ghana for a ceremonial successful 2015 that she archetypal contemplated leaving the accelerated gait of New York for the dilatory travel of Ghana. At first, she thought it would consciousness similar home, but she says she often felt similar an outsider. “Too American to beryllium successful Ghanaian spaces. But excessively Ghanaian for America,” she explains.

A relative named Alfred softened her landing by teaching her however to navigate markets, hail a trotro (a section minibus taxi), and recognize the unspoken etiquette of greeting elders and ne'er utilizing the near manus to marque gestures towards anybody.

Without his guidance, she says, she mightiness person near and ne'er returned.

Recognising that not each returnee has their ain Alfred, Konadu decided to help. In 2017, she opened Villa Diaspora, a three-bedroom co-living compound alongside her larger household location successful Kwabenya. She invites the tenants she hosts into the mundane beingness of her neighbourhood and introduces them to middle-income Accra. Beyond providing accommodation, she helps returnees find schools, consults connected onshore purchases, and connects them with societal groups and sports clubs.

Her extremity is simple: to assistance radical beryllium by providing “an already-made community”.

“Most of them travel present with a psyche mission,” Konadu explains. “They privation healing. Or reconnection. Or conscionable a caller start. For many, coming to Africa has been a lifelong dream. But the radical they conscionable mightiness not recognize that.”

Michelle Konadu stands extracurricular Villa Diaspora [Alfred Quartey/Al Jazeera]

Her household struggled to recognize wherefore she moved backmost erstwhile their imagination had been to leave. But present different families are relieved to cognize that their loved ones volition walk their archetypal months successful Ghana surrounded by radical connected a akin journey. After 10 years successful Ghana, Konadu believes that if radical tin unrecorded with her, they tin unrecorded among the wider community.

She points to the Brazilian “Tabom” assemblage successful Jamestown, Accra, which she sees arsenic a cleanable illustration of a well-integrated returned diaspora group. As descendants of formerly enslaved Africans who returned from Brazil successful the 19th century, they settled among the Ga people, intermarried, learned the language, and built lives that blended their Afro-Brazilian practice wrong the Ga societal structure. Over the generations, their names – De Souza, Silva, Nelson – person go portion of the Jamestown story. Konadu expects the aforesaid volition hap with the newer returnees and that the African-American civilization volition stay beardown but beryllium wrong the operation of the larger Ghanaian society.

Haruna understands that integration takes time, and she acknowledges that returnees similar her person privileges that others successful Ghana don’t. Lighter tegument and an American accent often unfastened doors successful ways that ne'er happened backmost successful the US, giving her preferential attraction specified arsenic faster work successful restaurants, locals acceptable to connection help, and mostly being capable to marque things hap faster, similar meetings with authorities.

“It is uncomfortable arsenic a self-aware idiosyncratic to announcement that I person privilege, thing that is the full other of what is happening successful the United States. I americium inactive wrapping my caput astir each of it,” she says.

“I’m Ghanaian. I’m besides a returnee,” Konadu says. “We’ve ever been connected: Ghana and its diasporans. This isn’t new, but the ‘Year of Return’ made things much visible.”

This accrued visibility – and the clustering of returnees successful circumstantial settlements, on with rising costs – has caused immoderate friction.

An aerial presumption of Kwabenya, wherever Villa Diaspora is located [Alfred Quartey/Al Jazeera]

‘The Ghana they won’t see’

Anthony Amponsah Faith runs a concern renting retired cars and driving clients astir Ghana, including returnees navigating the state for the archetypal time. He credits them with allowing him to sojourn places helium had ne'er been to before, specified arsenic the Nzulezu stilt colony and the middle-belt waterfalls. “Before, I ne'er got to spell anywhere. Now, I’ve seen the full of Ghana,” says the 32-year-old.

On these trips, Amponsah has witnessed his African-American clients’ affectional visits to coastal enslaved castles and memorials, but helium has besides seen friction up close. While wealthier neighbourhoods, wherever returnees often settle, bask continuous electricity, paved roads, and entree to supermarkets and cafes, successful others, h2o comes successful cycles and basal services necessitate improvisation. Returnees kick astir powerfulness cuts oregon dense traffic, portion locals motion them disconnected arsenic portion of regular life. He recalls a lawsuit insisting helium was being overcharged due to the fact that “Ghana should beryllium cheap”.

Earlier this year, Amponsah awoke 1 nighttime to find his mattress floating successful a country flooded with water. “That’s the Ghana they won’t see,” helium says. “It doesn’t flood successful the areas wherever returnees stay.”

He is frustrated by the rising outgo of housing, which helium attributes to returnees’ willingness to wage more. “To them, it’s not expensive,” helium says. “They travel from places wherever they gain more. But I blasted the government. Why aren’t we getting those aforesaid opportunities?”

In 2019, helium paid 120 cedis ($10-12) a period for a tiny studio; helium present pays 450 cedis ($42-44).

“The outgo of surviving is rising by the second. It makes uncovering a spot scary,” says Amponsah. He would similar to beryllium person to his customers, galore of whom unrecorded astatine slightest an hr away, but helium can’t spend to move.

The introduction to Fihankra, a diaspora settlement, connected the outskirts of Akwamufie [Alfred Quartey/Al Jazeera]

‘A municipality from scratch’

Many caller arrivals consciousness blameworthy astir their economical and societal privileges, but immoderate Ghanaians transportation an often unspoken load tied to their ancestors’ relation successful the transatlantic enslaved trade, starring immoderate chiefs to connection onshore to returnees arsenic atonement.

Across Ghana, astatine slightest 2 diaspora settlements, Fihankra and Pan African Village emerged that way, portion different returnee-focused residential projects, including gated communities, are nether construction.

Dawn Dickson, an entrepreneur and investor, is gathering a location for herself successful the African-American colony known arsenic Pan African Village. She moved to Ghana successful 2022, aft envisaging a beingness extracurricular the US successful a spot wherever she wasn’t “the minority”.

The 46-year-old says she didn’t mean to question retired a diaspora-only community. Dickson, who traces her ancestry to the Akan radical successful Ghana and Ivory Coast, was struck by the consciousness of familiarity, warmth and vigor among the Ghanaians she met. But erstwhile she started looking to bargain land, she discovered that different returnees were buying astir Asebu municipality successful the coastal Central Region, wherever a accepted person had carved retired immoderate 20,000 plots for diasporans.

“For me, it was the excitement that I got to beryllium portion of gathering a municipality from scratch,” Dickson explains.

She bought onshore and past founded a institution that helps different African Americans bargain and physique homes. Dickson is employing sustainable rammed world exertion to conception houses for 35 returnees arsenic good arsenic roads, a school, a religion and boreholes, and is grooming locals to maestro this gathering technique.

The community, however, has not been without controversy.

In 2023, a household challenged the determination to allocate onshore they claimed was their ancestral spot arsenic portion of the village. Development has continued contempt a precocious tribunal injunction ordering that operation beryllium halted, and immoderate 150 farmers who relied connected this onshore accidental they person mislaid their livelihoods.

Dickson says the onshore she has helped acquisition is not contested, and if farmers are utilizing it, she negotiates shared-crop agreements oregon payment.

Elsewhere, caller diaspora projects are nether mode and person travel nether scrutiny.

Sanbra City (“Return City”) is simply a 300-acre backstage existent property improvement extracurricular Accra. The planned eco-friendly gated assemblage caused a backlash implicit archetypal reports that the authorities was down an exclusive returnee enclave with houses starting astatine $180,000, which is retired of scope for astir Ghanaians. Sanbra City founders person said the task is simply a collaboration betwixt African-American and Ghanaian developers, not a authorities initiative, and Ghanaians would beryllium welcomed.

In different instances, Dickson says she has seen African Americans scamming their own, advertizing houses hours distant from Accra arsenic if they’re “15 minutes from the airport,” oregon charging intolerable prices.

Black Star African Lions guesthouse successful Akwamufie [Alfred Quartey/Al Jazeera]

A Pan-African refuge and a assemblage hub

The precise archetypal planned diaspora assemblage successful the state was Fihankra, connected the outskirts of Akwamufie municipality successful Ghana’s southeastern Eastern Region.

In 1994, the main successful the Akwamu Traditional Area offered onshore arsenic a acquisition to diasporans consenting to resettle successful Ghana. Fihankra is simply a Twi operation that loosely translates as, “When you near this place, nary goodbyes were bid.” It symbolises diasporans’ achy separation from their ancestral home.

Once promoted arsenic a Pan-African refuge, Fihankra is present mostly deserted and marked by scandal.

Harriet Kaufman, 69, a retired caregiver and an Afro-Caribbean from New York, archetypal heard astir Fihankra erstwhile she and her hubby were surviving successful London successful the precocious 1990s.

By the clip they arrived successful Ghana successful 1998, rumours were swirling that Fihankra turned distant Jamaicans and Nigerians, reserving onshore solely for African-American investors and charged inflated prices and rents. So the mates recovered onshore connected their own, and dilatory built a location 15 minutes distant from Fihankra.

Over time, immoderate diasporans astatine Fihankra started calling themselves the royal family, prompting the curate successful complaint of chieftaincy to instrumentality ineligible enactment against them for impersonation. Then, successful 2015, 2 pistillate African-American residents were murdered successful an attempted robbery. Soon after, the tiny assemblage was mostly abandoned.

Today, lone 2 radical unrecorded successful Fihankra, says Kaufman.

The Kaufmans’ home, meanwhile, named Black Star African Lion and situated connected hills overlooking the Volta River, has grown into a section assemblage hub with a tiny children’s library, cafe, bar, euphony studio, guesthouse and prenatal attraction business.

Kaufman stands successful beforehand of her location successful Akwamufie [Alfred Quartey/Al Jazeera]

‘I americium fortunate’

The assemblage took years to develop, and Kaufman is struck by however easy returnees look to get today. When she archetypal came to Ghana, she and her hubby rented from a household successful Accra and it took them respective years to find onshore and physique the archetypal building. There were nary smartphones, and nary energy successful the area. There was nary Instagram to glamourise the travel oregon existent property agents curating “Africa” from afar. In her opinion, societal media has made instrumentality look easy, adjacent luxurious.

“I conjecture it was a antithetic clip than now. When we came, my hubby and I sat extracurricular and stared astatine the stars astatine nighttime for entertainment,” she says. “Today, each these influencers are posting astir Ghana connected Instagram, and radical deliberation it is conscionable casual and bully villas by the river.”

Kaufman believes this contributes to perceptions that returnees are privileged.

After each these years, erstwhile she occasionally sells bananas from her plot successful the section market, she is offered prices beneath what suppliers would typically accept. She says she is inactive seen arsenic idiosyncratic who already has much than capable and shouldn’t beryllium seeking profit. Kaufman says she gets it, and considers herself privileged to unrecorded arsenic she does successful Ghana.

As much caller arrivals physique caller lives successful section communities oregon take to beryllium surrounded by different diasporans, galore returnees look integration challenges.

“I cognize that astir of my ancestors dreamed of returning to Africa, and I americium fortunate capable to person that chance,” Haruna says, admitting she inactive feels similar an outsider. “[But] I volition ever accidental I moved here, not that I americium from here.”