"I wanted to connect with my African side"
Some descendants of enslaved Africans leave the West for their ancestral continent. Ghana is especially popular among these 'returnees'The. Surinamese-Dutch journalist Liesbeth Tjon-A-Meeuw is one of them.'There is more openness here, I feel a close connection with the people.'
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| Photo by Francis Kokoroko |
The Surinamese Dutch journalist Liesbeth Tjon-A-Meeuw (43) emigrated to Ghana in 2013 for two reasons: better career opportunities and her roots. “Iwanted to reconnect with my African side and find my audience. An audience to whom I don't have to explain the African continent because they are Africans themselves.”
She talks about her departure to the West African country in a small studio on an university campus, on the outskirts of theport city of Tema. As a radio and television teacher and studio manager at Central University in the capital Accra, Tjon-A-Meeuw helps her students make campus radio.
All her life, Tjon-A-Meeuw had been asking questions about her identity, not least because of the racism she experienced in the Netherlands. One incident stands out for her.
When she was eleven, a group of white children attacked her while she was cycling to school. They called her Shaka Zulu (the founder of the Zulu Empire, about whom there was a TV series at the time, ed.). As she got older, it was mainly white men who sexually harassed her and implied that Caribbean women would be licentious.
When she was 26, Tjon-A-Meeuw traveled to Africa for the first time. She spent three months in South Africa to complete her history studies. “I wasn't here to discover my ancestors' continent or anything like that. But after these three months, Africa was 'rekindled' me. It was just not the time to stay then.”
Due to the financial crisis of 2008, she got fewer and fewer freelance jobs as a journalist. Her brother had already had a DNA test done, which showed that his and her roots were in West Africa. He would be 38.6 percent Nigerian, 15.2 percent Sierra Leeons, 3.5 percent other West African. The list also included Kenyan, Chinese, Japanese, Irish, Scottish, Greek, Italian, Ashkenazi Jewish and Finnish.
In 2011, Tjon-A-Meeuw started seriously considering living and working in West Africa. She considered Nigeria, Kenya and Liberia, but ultimately chose Ghana. She had been there for two months. The country is also known for free democracy and free media.
Ghana is actively engaged in attracting people from the African diaspora.
Tjon-A-Meeuw was born in the Netherlands and grew up with Surinamese parents. She feels that her identity goes beyond nationality and is mainly determined by where her heart lies. “Looking back, I realize I was sent to Ghana guided,” she says, as she walks through the labyrinthine corridors of the university building, which towers over the surrounding greenery.
She waves to a group of students ahead. She often stops to greet someone. “Thereis more openness here, I feel a close connection with the people. I love building something together with the younger African generation, learning to understand them, passing on to them what I have learned and creating interesting stories together that we can identify with.”
In Ghana, Tjon-A-Meeuw became a born-again Christian. She also visited two coastal castles built by European colonialists, which played a major role in human trafficking in West Africa. The visit to the castles was like a pilgrimage.
“I was very much aware that I was going to a place that is strongly linked to my family history. You connect with the pain of your ancestors, the hell they went through.” She is not among those who hold Ghanaians responsible for those atrocities. “I knew that the West Africans were being fooled by the Europeans. They just saw a way to make money.”
The eight years in her new homeland were not always easy. Tjon-A-Meeuw had to carry water up the stairs of her flat because her neighbors refused to contribute to the repair of a broken pump. She had to wait for buses that took forever on rainy days. She got sick but didn't trust the poorly maintained government hospitals. Her attempts to speak the most widely spoken language, Twi, are often laughed at.
Tjon-A-Meeuw says that she sometimes felt westernized when Ghanaians call her 'obroni' or 'blofonyo',which literally means 'whiteperson'. Partly because she is generous to the market women who brave the sweltering heat to sell their wares, she is often assumed to be rich, when she has no expat salary at all.
But her efforts to integrate in Ghana have paid off, says Tjon-A-Meeuw.
“I am adding an African chapter to our family chronicle and creating a new African identity, combined with all the other cultural backgrounds I have. That is exciting and strengthens my humanity; my ancestors were not seen as humans. It's not just about me, it's about connecting with a larger community. It is extremely valuable.”
#africandiaspora #yearofreturn #back2africa @culiesbeth
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