In the late evening of Monday 27th December 2021 in a well laid out hall at the chic Raddison Blu hotel in the quieter Westernmost edge of a sprawling Freetown city, a phenomenon was unfolding that is deeply rooted in history but with branches extending far out into the many possibilities of the future.
The occasion in question was dubbed “the Diaspora Homecoming Gala and Awards”. It was a well calibrated event organised to honour people who have significantly contributed to the mutually beneficial relationship between people, organisations and businesses in the diaspora and people and institutions on the ground.
Apart from its obvious entertainment value this sleek GEM STAR event had a solid ring to it. It was a loud signal to tell the world that Sierra Leone is ready to welcome back home its sons and daughters recently or generationally settled in the diaspora. It was a platform for mutual education and a space for the incubation of business ideas and profitable ventures. It was brothers and sisters meeting to tell the history of their ancestors and to exchange plans on how to address the evolving challenges of the present and carve out the contents of our emerging tomorrow.
It is a well-documented fact that the African Diaspora represents a huge chunk of the income generating capacity of the African continent in terms of remittances. The realisation is steadily growing around the need to expand on pathways through which the continent could translate the potentials represented by this strong stream of financial inflow into a catalyst for real growth, in all foreseeable areas.
Just before the start of the ongoing pandemic Ghana tapped into this and their “YEAR OF THE RETURN” is reported to have generated over 2 billion dollars in revenue pool for the country, sparking the creation and growth of a number of potent industries way beyond the touristic foundation of the event.
Grace Macauley, a UK- based Sierra Leonean documentary film maker has been a passionate advocate for pushing the Sierra Leonean factor on to the mainstream of international travel agendas. In the past, Grace has organised expeditions sponsoring trips to Sierra Leone by people of African descent from the Americas and other countries. These groups, members of which had traced their ancestry through DNA to Sierra Leone, were taken round an exciting whirlwind of physical and spiritual journeys of a life time. From the unfettered display of deep emotional catharsis in the harrowing ruins of the slave-holding fortress of Bunce Island to the moving excitement of a cultural “naming ceremony” with Paramount Chief Boima of Bo Kakuwa, to the proud moment of receiving their national passports from the Head of State, HE President Julius Maada Bio, at State House, the journey is never dull.
And for Grace Macauley, “this journey is only just beginning”!
What Grace and her Gemstar group plan to do is to work with the New Direction to expand this venture into an annual pilgrimage of fraternal festivities, intellectual burrowing and relaxing spirituality.
The DIASPORA HOMECOMING promises to open up Sierra Leone using a pathway in entertainment and education never before contemplated.
It has to be added that this is a project that is strongly supported by the Sierra Leone High Commission in the United Kingdom and by several organisations and agencies on the ground in Sierra Leone- connecting the dots to spring a pool of understanding and progress.
As the Covid 19 pandemic recedes and businesses resume in full, it is hoped that the DIASPORA HOMECOMING will begin to grow and to further help give life, colour and vitality to the Sierra Leonean story.
It is a Pleasure
to Come Back Home
for Leisure!
It is Profitable
to Come Back Home
for Business!
It feels Great to
Come Back Home
for GOOD!
@ Abdulai Braima