Embracing Our Roots: Upper East renaissance & the Year Beyond the Return

The transatlantic slave trade is the basis of the African diaspora.

Repatriation is the main object of the Year of Return and Beyond the Return concept spearheaded by the Ghana Tourism Authority.

Repatriation of the descendants of the transatlantic slave trade. Repatriation of their resources - human and material.

Repatriation also of their investment ideas into areas of tourism, arts, and the authentic cultural heritage and artisanal industries of our people.

For some years, the attention of the promoters of the year of return and beyond the return for the African diaspora has been focused on Accra and Cape Coast - the coastal transit points and holding posts of the transatlantic slave trade.

Much attention has also been put on Assin Manso where the captured ancestors supposedly had their “last bath” before arriving at the slave castle dungeons in Cape Coast and Elmina.

What has always been left out of the narrative over the years is the “real roots” of most captives who ended up at the slave castle dungeons.

Repatriation that ends in Accra and Cape Coast is a romanticization of the slave history and indeed an injustice to the true history of the slave trade. These were transit points. The origin couldn’t be left out.

And this is why this year’s decision to include the Upper East region in the national program of the beyond the Return Secretariat and the Ghana Tourism Authority is welcome news for true historians and should be music in the ears of all Africans in the diaspora planning to repatriate in December 2023 and to participate in the historic pilgrimage back to the real roots of the transatlantic slave trade.

We are ready to welcome you all to the Upper East region #whereitallbegan. We are ready to welcome you to the Pikworo slave camp where evidence of over 400 years of slave trade history remains indelibly visible.





In case you are coming to Ghana in December, remember to:
visit Upper East
Invest in Upper East
Taste Upper East

Besides the African diaspora, this is the opportunity for all sons and daughters of the upper East region to BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES BY BELIEVING IN UPPER EAST and PARTICIPATING fully in the beyond the return events between the 7 - 10 December to showcase the tourism potential of the region to the rest of the world and to enjoy the authenticity of our offer!!!
#ProudAmbassadorofuppereast
#embracingourroots
#uppereastrenaissance
#whereitallbegan