A Welcome Change For The Diaspora

Ghana’s clever campaign last year to encourage Africans to return to their roots spruced up tourism numbers and awakened the feeling of home, healing the many torn apart.

- Peace Hyde

WELCOME back home,” were the three powerful words the immigration officer at Kotoka International Airport in Ghana muttered to Mona Scott-Young that made her eyes well up – with inexplicable joy.

Scott-Young, CEO of Monami Entertainment based in Hollywood and responsible for creating hours of content on the hit reality TV show, Love & Hip Hop, on Viacom’s VH1 entertainment, has been advocating diverse content in the United States (US) for years.

Originally believing she was of Haitian heritage, Scott-Young had recently discovered her original ancestral home to be Cameroon, which then sparked her interest in Africa. The perfect moment for a visit came when Ghanaian President Nana AkufoAddo declared 2019 the ‘Year of Return’, a momentous event to mark 400 years of the first enslaved Africans arriving in Jamestown, Virginia.

“I had goosebumps all over my body. I was actually home, in Africa, and it was an amazing experience. I think I saw only three white people my whole time in Ghana. After we visited the Cape Coast Castle with my son, we both could not stop crying. On our way back, he posted on Instagram a message saying he is standing on the sweat and blood of his ancestors, such a powerful moment,” says Scott-Young.

They were not the only ones to heed this call from ‘home’.

Oumarou Idrissa and his family from Niger too experienced a similar moment. Born in a little village, Idrissa was one of 38 family members who lived in a mud house and had to walk hours barefoot through muddy and disease-infested waters to make ends meet. One day, while at an internet café, Idrissa was asked to help fill out an online application for a US university by his friend and he spotted a life-changing opportunity.