By Pearlvis Atsu Kuadey and Dorothea Ashong
A new home in Ghana
When Karen Hendrickson first stepped onto Ghanaian soil in 2002, it wasn’t by chance. Her decision came after two years of deliberate exploration across the continent. Together with her husband, she travelled through more than 25 African countries, from South Africa’s sweeping landscapes to Namibia’s deserts, and the restless energy of Nigeria. Each journey added a brushstroke to the picture she was painting of her future.
“I always knew I wanted to settle somewhere in Africa,” she recalls, her voice carrying both conviction and calm. “But I didn’t know the country.”
Back then, Ghana wasn’t the obvious choice. Friends and acquaintances questioned their decision. “Why Ghana?” many asked, hinting at the country’s struggles and uncertainties. But Karen and her husband saw what others didn’t. Ghana was still emerging, but its direction was clear. “It was very obvious that it was developing,” she says. “And we wanted a place that was developing and not already developed.”
That leap of faith brought her here, more than two decades ago, a migration story shaped not by necessity, but by vision and hope.
Her journey reflects a wider story, one of countless people whose lives have been shaped by migration. Some leave Ghana in search of education, greener pastures, new opportunities, etc. Others, like Karen, choose it as their destination. And in the process, they all carry more than just luggage: they carry culture, identity, and the memories of home.
Leaving to belong
For Catherine Derry, a member of the diaspora, the decision was the opposite. Born in Ghana, she migrated to the United States in pursuit of a new culture as well as to join her husband. Hers is a familiar story: the pull of marriage, education, employment, and the promise of a better life beyond the borders of home. Yet even in faraway places, ties to Ghana remain, visible in food, faith, and festivals that echo across oceans.
The stories of Karen and Catherine show two sides of the same coin: migration as leaving behind and emigration as finding home. Each journey reshapes identity; each movement leaves a mark.
Migration beyond movement
“From pre-colonial times to today, migration has taken many forms,” explains Prof. Mary Boatemaa Setrana, Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. “Ranging from individuals moving for survival and employment to students seeking education abroad. Additionally, Ghanaians have dispersed across the ECOWAS region, Europe, and North America.”
Her words remind us that migration is not new. Long before passports and borders, people moved in search of fertile land, safety, or trade. What is new are the systems and policies that now shape these movements.
Migration is often confused with mobility, which is short-term travel for work or study. But experts stress the difference. Migration implies permanence, or at least a longer commitment, requiring adaptation and integration. It is a story of transformation, not just transition.
Ghana as a destination
While some Ghanaians seek opportunities overseas, others make Ghana their destination. According to Dominic Agyemang of the Migration Unit at the Ministry of the Interior, migrants not only bring their own experiences but also adapt to local culture, weaving themselves into the fabric of society.
Karen Hendrickson, an immigrant, is a living proof of this. In settling in Ghana, she brought her own history with her, but she has also woven herself into the Ghanaian life. For her, migration is not only about where you live, but about who you become.
The diaspora lens- Identity and belonging
Ghana’s migration story is not only about those who leave its shores, but also about those who find their way back. For Akwasi Awuah Ababio, former Director of Diaspora Affairs at the Office of the President, this return dynamic is essential. “The diaspora plays a crucial role,” he says. “When people come back, they bring with them skills, resources, and experiences that feed directly into national development. Migration is not just departure; it’s part of our national narrative of renewal,” he emphasised.
One visible face of this return is Ama K. Abebrese, an actress and television personality born in Ghana but raised in the UK. For her, as a returnee was not just a career choice but a personal reckoning. She had spent years moving between two identities, the fast-paced life of London and the deep-rooted traditions of Ghana, and returning was a way of fusing them.
Her story mirrors that of many second-generation Ghanaians abroad who yearn to reconnect with their origins. Some return to start businesses, others to immerse themselves in creative industries, but all share a common thread: the desire to belong to both worlds while shaping Ghana’s future. For Ama, that has meant not only acting in films but also using her platform to champion African stories told authentically, from within.
Culture on the Move
Culture travels with people in suitcases, in memory, in language, in song. For Ghana, migration has never been only about economics or remittances; it is also about the shift in meaning of ones heritage and identity.
Rosemond Amuzu, Acting Director for Policy, Planning, Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the National Commission on Culture, captures this dynamic. Migration, she explains, is not simply a movement of persons but of traditions and culture. Ghanaian communities abroad often replicate the rituals at home in foreign lands: outdooring ceremonies in London, funerals in New Jersey, or Independence Day parades in Hamburg. Third generation migrants born to parents are still given day born names like Kwame and Akosua alongside English names, symbolising the fusion of two worlds.
Yet, the story does not end abroad. Returnees, she notes, frequently embark on a cultural rediscovery. Having grown up or lived away for years, they return to Ghana, relearning local languages, reconnecting with ancestral towns, and re-immersing themselves in festivals like Homowo or Aboakyir. This migration is a loop of preservation abroad and reclamation at home.
Ama Serwaa Nerquaye -Tetteh, former Secretary-General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, echoes this but adds another layer: cultural exchange. “Migration is more than just movement; it is a narrative of identity, belonging, and cultural exchange,” she explains. For her, the impact goes beyond symbolic events. It is evident in the daily lives of second-generation Ghanaians living abroad as they balance using English alongside Twi, Ga or any other local dialect. Additionally, it reflects how they re-learn the etiquette of greetings and communal eating when they visit Ghana.
Food and music have become especially powerful carriers of culture. Across London, chop bars serve fufu and light soup to both Ghanaians and curious non-Ghanaians. In New York, Ghanaian jollof is celebrated in food festivals, while Afrobeats, rooted in West African rhythms, fuses with Western hip-hop, creating new global sounds.
Cultural exchanges, however, are not without their challenges. Some migrants, who have been raised with different values, question traditional gender roles and expectations within Ghanaian society. Others aim to reinterpret these traditions for a modern context. This tension is ultimately productive, as it prevents culture from becoming static; instead, it allows culture to be dynamic, adapting and reshaping with each journey across borders.
Human stories at the heart
These reflections gain weight when seen through the lives of individuals. Karen Hendrickson found home in Ghana, despite beginning her life elsewhere. Catherine Derry carries Ghana with her in the United States, even as she builds a future there. Ama K. Abebrese reconnects with her roots, turning her return into creative energy.
Together, their stories remind us that migration is never just statistics or policy. It is the lived experience of millions, each carrying fragments of culture that shape communities on both sides of the border.
An international frame
Globally, migration is one of the defining issues of our time. From Africa to Europe, from Asia to the Americas, people move in search of safety, dignity, and opportunity. Ghana is part of this global web, a country of departure, return, and arrival.
Yet Ghana’s story also highlights the resilience of culture. Even as people move, they carry traditions that bind them to home while enriching the places they go.
A Journey that continues
Migration has always been part of human history. What shifts are the reasons, the borders crossed, and the stories told along the way.
In Ghana, these stories are layered: students who leave for opportunity, returnees like Ama K. Abebrese who reconnect with their roots, immigrants like Karen Hendrickson who build fresh lives here, and diasporas like Catherine Derry who carry Ghana with them abroad. Institutions too wrestle with the questions of identity, belonging, and cultural preservation, recognising that migration is not only economic, but profoundly cultural.
Each voice adds to a wider picture of people on the move, of cultures reshaping and being reshaped, of Ghana’s place in the world.
And so, the story continues. It lives not in numbers but in the footsteps of migrants carrying traditions across oceans, weaving new identities, and redefining what it means to call a place home. Ghana’s cultural landscape is being reshaped constantly, one journey at a time.
