Making the Ghana connection
From:Chicago Tribune
As Ghanaian district leader Emmanuel Ntow Bediako looked over the crowd of African-Americans in a Chicago Heights church to launch a sister city agreement, many of the faces resembled those he sees in his country an ocean away, he said.
Bediako and four other officials were making their first visit to the United States and the Chicago region. The trip came only weeks after leaders in his country launched an aggressive campaign to reach out to descendants of slaves, pushing them to claim Ghana as their native land and to return there.
It’s not the first time Ghana has encouraged blacks to return as tourists, students, investors and residents. This time, the movement is more economic than political, with leaders seeking support for a continent where American dollars can go a long way.
“It is our aim to connect with our brothers and sisters here,” said Bediako last week as he toured schools, a hospital, government offices and churches. “We share so much. Our culture, our stories, our faces are alike. We want to link up. When I look at you, I can see you are from Africa.”
Bediako is the equivalent of a mayor in the Asuogyaman district in the eastern region of Ghana, viewed as one of the few West African countries having a stable economy and government. But it is still poor by Western standards–many people live on less than a dollar a day. (more…may need to register)
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I have always maintained that if other ethnic groups can do something like this, we can as well. Slavery did do a number on us as it erased documented evidence that shows our direct connection to Africa down to the country (we know our roots go back to Africa, but where?). This is why I think it can be challenging at times to get black Americans on board something like this. However with a good and aggressive marketing plan, this should prove to be a success.
