Fifteen years away from home can take its toll.

Across the Atlantic
Homecoming
May 15th, 2005

Fifteen years away from home can take its toll.

I left Ghana at the age of seven on what I thought was a brief trip to visit my father in America. I never came back. Time has transformed close family members to mere names, favorite places to blurred pictures, and my first language ? Twi ? into a broken, halting, syntax. In many ways, I have become a stranger to my family, my country and my culture.
This is a transformation, which many Ghanaians who move abroad might identify with. Although nothing can replace the joy of physically coming home, this column is my attempt to do so - at least on paper. Hence the name of my column. Across the Atlantic, seeks to do just what its title suggests: reach out across the divide to connect a Ghanaian in America to Ghanaians back home. Though we are on different continents, I hope to place us on common ground through dialogue on a variety of topics, from politics to family to fashion.
Ultimately, Across the Atlantic, is not just my platform ? it is yours as well. You can look forward to reading about a myriad of subjects and experiences that are important to me and of interest to you. Despite the diversity and range in topics, each column will be impassioned, intelligent, and sincere ? much like the man who inspired me to begin writing in the first place, my father, Kabral Blay-Amihere.