Returning to the UK after spending three years in Ghana, Elvina Quaison shares her observations about life as a Western African in the Diaspora

It has been 3 months since I have returned to the UK and I am so glad I took the lesson I learnt when I moved to Ghana and applied it to my return to the UK. I have given myself the gift of time to reacquaint myself with this my second home, London. It has been just over 3 years since I left and it is funny to return and see what has been happening in my absence to the world I used to be part of.

In the same way I have been experiencing life in Ghana through the eye of an African with a strong Western cultural influence, I find I am seeing the UK with a new frame. A Western African influenced by my West African experience.

A West African in London

With March being the month of Ghana’s Independence and Women’s international month there was an extensive range of events happening to recognise both. I attended an event on Africa’s representation in the Media which was my first ‘stepping out’ back into my old world and it was both a delight and a disappointment. It was a delight because I saw many faces that I hadn’t seen for some time, the passion was still very much in evidence perhaps with a light touch of despondency that here we are again, having very similar conversations.

That is where I think my disappointment lies; that we are still speaking about the under representation of Africa, the mis-representation of Africa, the skewed, one-dimensional, damn right insultingly stultified view of Africa. However, it was extremely positive to see the efforts being made from those on the continent alone or in partnership with different groups in the UK and beyond, to utilise social media, digital media and traditional media to influence and expand the narrative of the stories coming out of Africa.

I attended the Africa 2.0 network’s event which looked at The Rise of Diversification and The Fall of Commodities. It was heartening to see so many young, ambitious Africans bubbling over with an eager enthusiasm to be connected to the continent. It also brought home how important it is that we ground ourselves in a relationship with Africa that is not based on an idyllic or imagined place informed by our own desires or the images we have been fed from the media.

I had a conversation with a young man at the event, he had a product which would be in very high demand right now within the African country he was focused on if he chose to take it and sell it. However he was fixated on the idea that the way forward was to work with ‘the Chiefs’ to teach orphans how to make it. The sentiment is coming from a good place, his passion was tangible, and his statistics were numerous. He was seeking financial backing and support for his idea, was putting in a lot of ground work yet when I asked had he been to the country he spoke so confidently about helping, he had not. When I asked him ‘why don’t you take the product and sell it now as I assure you it would be in high demand and then you could use the funds to support your project?’ it was as though he couldn’t hear me.

Social Enterprise or a company with a social focus is another option. I remember being like him (she whispers) fifteen years ago and discovering at an AFFORD event that there were other ways to ‘do’ development, and business was one of them, a key one. It seems this lesson needs to be taught more and shouted about louder.

Perhaps that is part of my contribution to ‘The Movement’ for sustainable development and change in Africa. Take my lessons, my awakenings from living on the continent and bring some of that to all the exciting things happening here. You might take the girl out of Africa, but you can’t take Africa out of the girl...woman!

Elvina is an entrepreneur who is paving her way in the world of international business. Visit her site at www.silksolutionsglobal.com Contact at Elvina@silksolutionsglobal.com Twitter:@silksolutions