By: Henrietta Afful
After enduring challenging times, emotional upheavals, and various obstacles, the remarkable lives of five resilient Ghanaian women who migrated to the UK are vividly portrayed in a new book.
Unveiled at the British Council in Accra, “Beyond the Greener Pastures,” published by Kingdom Publishers, London, UK, delves into the experiences of these five women.
The 75-page book captures their personal journeys through love, loss, disappointment, and heartbreak as they sought a better life in London.
During her presentation at the launch event, the Author of the book, Nana Ama Adu-Kwapong, gave the attendants a historical background on how she was inspired to write.
She said her dissertation “the nature of work being done by skilled migrant women in UK”, which she presented while studying at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), focused on the work experiences of skilled migrant women. This research became a foundation for her book.
Her findings sparked a deeper interest in understanding why people choose to leave their home countries and what their experiences are like in their new environments.
She highlighted skills mismatch as a major challenge faced by female Ghanaian migrant workers in London.
“During my research, I realised that a significant proportion of Ghanaian women I spoke to had higher education qualifications from Ghana but were working in areas completely unrelated to what they studied and were using very little of the skills they had acquired through their studies. This led to several suboptimal cases of a skills mismatch,” she said.
“The outcome of my research whipped my interest in finding out more about people’s motivation for leaving their countries of birth to live else where and their experiences in their host country,” she added.
She raised several policy issues impacting individuals seeking a better life and noted that the trend of skilled migrant workers being employed in low-paid work continues unabated.
“…life as an illegal immigrant, especially in the West is full of anxiety, financial hardships, and various challenging circumstances that can only be fully appreciated through lived experience” she said.
She advised young people and Africans at large considering migration to thoroughly research and plan ahead to avoid any unforeseen challenges.
She urged individuals to have in place the requisite contingency plans if things do not go as expected.
“Travelling overseas should be a very well-researched and planned decision, especially considering the current economic challenges that most nations, including countries in the West, are grappling with. The research and planning process should include having in place the requisite contingency plans if things don’t go as expected. In particular, I would implore anyone who has procured a visa and purchased the one way ticket with no plan of returning to their home country when their visas expire to seriously rethink and reconsider this decision,” she advised.
Mrs Nana Ama Adu-Kwapong appealed to all levels of leadership in Ghana and other African nations to recognize the pain, frustration, anger, and hopelessness experienced by the youth across the continent.
She urged leaders to work towards bringing positive and meaningful change and progress for Ghanaian youth and the broader African community.
For her part, the Executive Director of the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation, Akofa Kuenyehia Bentsi-Enchill reviewing the book “Beyond the Greener Pastures,” said it is “good information”.
The book is available at Kingdom Bookshop, the University of Ghana Bookshop, as well as on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mrs Nana Ama Adu-Kwapong is a journalist, advocate and author who lives in the United Kingdom with her husband and children.
She holds an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BA in English with Philosophy from the University of Ghana, and a Diploma in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
For the last eight years, she has volunteered with a charity that supports refugees, asylum seekers, and homeless people in London.
