[NYPOST] Monique John wasn’t sure what to expect when she stepped off the plane in her new home: the West African nation of Liberia.
"It was very rundown looking," the Brooklyn-born 28-year-old recalled of her first glimpse of the capital, Monrovia, nearly three years ago. "But my feeling as I was walking along the city’s main streets was a sense of excitement . . . it felt almost like an out-of-body experience to finally be in Africa."
John is one of a number of African-Americans moving to the Motherland, some inspired by the recent "Year of Return" movement initiated by Ghana, 400 years after the first Africans were brought in chains to Jamestown, Va. Last year, Ghana gave citizenship to 126 people of African descent, many of them Americans.
Born in Brooklyn, Monique John moved to Liberia three years ago to work as a journalist.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella went down under the weight of the custard...
rapper Ludacris obtained Gabonese citizenship, as did actor Samuel L. Jackson after tracing his heritage back to that nation’s Bantu Tribe. (Neither has moved there full time.)
New Jersey couple Chrystol and Jason Warde hope to make their move this year.
"We wanted to be in a place where we can bring our experiences to people who are going to appreciate it to help develop [businesses]," said Chrystol, 33, the owner of two women’s clothing stores. Her 34-year-old husband, who emigrated from Guyana at 19, is a CPA.
The couple, who have one child, plan to visit Tanzania and Kenya in April, travel restrictions permitting, to decide which country suits them best.
|