President Akufo-Addo has assured that the needed infrastructure for the Year of Return will be ready by August 2019
The ‘Year of Return’ marks 400 years since some Black Africans and Ghanaians for that matter were shipped as slaves to foreign lands.
[contextly_sidebar id=”hUWtc10EF9gq6fIAHzMEyqL3q80q42CC”]While interacting with students of the Harvard University Center for African Studies, President Nana Addo said a lot of work is ongoing to ensure that Ghana optimizes the economic benefits that come with celebrating the year of return.
“A whole structure is being set up to deal with the year of return. One of things we are also discovering is that a lot of people are offering themselves as host and hostesses for those who are coming. We also have to work hard.There is a lot of enthusiasm in the project for the year of return.
“There is a lot of things for people to see. So we are organizing that..The slave castles along coastlines and the historical monuments, all of that we are working on it as we speak but I am very confident that by June, July, August when we are expecting the inflow of the people to arrive, we will be in a good position to give them a very good welcome when they come.”
A lot of activities have been lined up by the government of Ghana to celebrate 400 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Dubbed, the ‘Year of Return,’ the celebration will start with the Africa Culture & Wellness Festival on February 7, 2017.
This festival was created by Dr. SharitaYazid, Naturopath, New Body Products Ghana Chief Operating Officer and a repatriate to Africa.
A group of natural healers, master African dance/drum instructors and fitness experts were consulted to help create this festival to deliver a sound platform for years to come.
The festival was launched on February 7, 2019, at Jam Rock Jamaican Restaurant in Accra, East Legon.
There are other activities spread out throughout the year. Some include the Black History Month with the African American Association of Ghana, Back2Africa Festival, Ghana Independence Day Celebration, The Pan African Student Summit, JaGha Reggae Festival and Heritage Paragliding Festival in Kwahu.
Others are Waxprint Film Documentary Festival, Black Prophet Homecoming Celebration, PANAFEST, GOD BOX Spiritual Pilgrimage, Chale Wote, Afrochella, among others.
The Ghana Tourism Authority, and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, are coordinating the year-long calendar of activities in “celebration of the resilience of the African spirit”.
This is being done in partnership with the Office of Diaspora Affairs in the Office of the President, the Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (Panafest) Foundation and The Adinkra Group.
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By: Marian Ansah| citinewsroom.com| Ghana
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