“It was so euphoric that I couldn’t help but cry” — Masao Meroe says of Ghana citizenship
The knowledge of the impending Citizenship Ceremony was a long time in coming… and for the past year seemingly elusive to the point of wondering if it would ever happen.
The ‘process’ was not a real ‘ process ‘ whereby an application form, dates, schedules and information were never communicated (because they didn’t exist as the government ministries and agencies stunned through the event).
I cried because of the the long journey to get to that point, that moment of citizenship.
I cried thinking back upon friends who helped me get here and not here to experience the ceremony which would have made them feel proud of this achievement.
I cried thinking about all the people who would be proud with me of my becoming a Ghanaian citizen.”
Masao Meroe (left) with his son Kofi and Kofi’s girlfriend, Athena (middle), in Hampstead Heath Park in London
These are the words of Masao Meroe on becoming a citizen of Ghana. His father is from Marshall, Texas in the United States (US) and his mother is Japanese.
His parents met during the US occupation of Japan after WWII. He is an American born on a US military base in Japan where he spent the first 5 months of his life.
He became a Ghanaian citizen in November 2019 and is the second person I am interviewing about leaving the US to settle in Ghana.
TheAfricanDream.net discovered that Masao, an African-American, is the founder of Sankofa Investments (established 1994 in Ghana) under which he owns and operates Sankofa Beach House and formerly Sankofa Meroe Tours.
A graduate of Brandeis University and the University of California, Berkeley, Masao holds a BA in Politics, a Masters in City and Regional Planning and a Juris Doctorate of Law.
Mr. Meroe with wife Janet in a 2018 event flyer of theirs.
He first visited Ghana in 1981 and almost four decades down the line, he stood in line on November 27, 2019, with others to take the oath of citizenship and became Ghanaian.
“ It was so Euphoric again that I couldn’t help but cry, “ Mr. Meroe told TheAfricanDream.net during this chat.
Let’s go back to 1981 where all this started. Masao arrived at the University of Ghana for a short law school program that year.
His fascination with Africa grew from that time on, it led to him traveling widely within the continent.
So strong was the pull by Africa that in the year 2000 he moved his family to Accra, Ghana after living in Ibadan, Nigeria for five years with them.
More at: https://bit.ly/3a690Nm
Originally published at https://africancelebs.com on January 13, 2020.
