Ghanaian community in Seychelles launches association |19 August 2019

The Association of Ghanaians Living in the Seychelles was officially launched on Saturday afternoon at the Les Mamelles community centre.

The newly launched association brings together Ghanaians living and working in Seychelles with the aim of providing support, cultural and educational events for the local Ghanaian community, and to enhance friendship and togetherness.

Aiming to become a fully-fledged registered association with the office of the Registrar by the end of August, the association was first initiated during a meeting held on June 18.

A number of consensus and resolutions were made on that day including a timeline of August 31 given to the interim leaders to ensure the association is registered with the Registrar and Ghanian embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.

It was further established that membership shall be opened to all Ghanaians by birth and adoption.

Nonetheless, Richard Quartey, one of the interim leaders for the group, remarked that the Ghanaian Association is also open to people who can effectively trace their lineage back to Ghana.

It is to be noted that there are a number of Seychellois descendants of King Prempeh I of the Ashanti, the Ghanaian king who was exiled to Seychelles in 1900.

The inaugural ceremony on Saturday was attended by Ghana's high commissioner to South Africa George Ayisi-Boateng, who also oversees the welfare of Ghanaians in the Seychelles, and director general of the cultural department Julienne Barra.

According to Mr Quartey, the Ghanaian community in Seychelles is gradually growing and so much so that it is a challenge to bring together every Ghanaians residing in the country.

“The people of Seychelles are quite hospitable and accommodating so we have not had many challenges in terms of settling in as Ghanaians working in Seychelles. The main challenge we have faced is in gathering every Ghanaians in Seychelles that we know. We still think that there are other Ghanaians here in Seychelles who do not know about this association and we hope that this inaugural ceremony will be able to reach them.”

“Ghana has a very rich culture; in Ghana we believe in the society and in the extended family. It’s good to always associate yourself with other Ghanaians whenever you are outside of Ghana. It’s a non-profit organisation set up to maintain our culture and bond with other nationalities living in the Seychelles,” Mr Quartey added.

Although Ghana differs greatly from Seychelles in terms of size, culture, languages and food, the two countries still have a lot in common such as the use of English as their official language and both being Christian-based societies.