Barbados welcomes new direct flights from Ghana, West Africa

Bajan Free Press welcomes the coming to Barbados of these new direct flights from Ghana in West Africa. Centuries of slavery and colonialism have left a great void between the people of the Caribbean and our ethnic kin in West Africa. The global powers that be have no interest in seeing the descendants of slaves united with our brothers and sisters of Mother Africa. There is so much that these two regions have in common, but yet so many on both sides are unaware of it. Indeed, our roots and culture are based largely in West Africa, Ghana in particular, and despite centuries of separation from the continent there are a lot of things in Bajan culture which come from Ghana, such as coucou and conkies (banku and kenkey). Even the words like bassa-bassa, susu and obeah come from the Twi language of the Asante (Ashanti) and other Akan people who are based in Ghana. (Obeah is derived from the word obayifo, a vampire-like mythological creature from West Africa coming from the folklore of the Asante.) And the Caribbean folklore character Anancy the spider originated from the same Asante tribe in Ghana, where he is known as Anansi, and was brought to the Caribbean by West African slaves hundreds of years ago. The powerful cultural dominance of North America should never be allowed to bedazzle us to the point where we forget that most of us came from the bosom of Mother Africa, and we can take comfort in knowing that we have faithfully kept our own culture alive through our music and particularly through our popular Crop Over festival which is a strong statement of the African soul of our Caribbean identity.

We are convinced that this new link across the Atlantic will only bring good to Barbados and to Ghana. There is so much that we have to offer each other in terms of trade, culture, education, business, etc. West Africa is a region rich in resources which are beyond the imagination of most Caribbean people: gold, diamonds, rubber, land, timber, foods and produce of every kind at prices far below those found in Barbados. The Caribbean on the other hand has highly educated people with excellent technical and management skills but lacking in the wealth of natural resources and markets to be found in West Africa, which is the origin of the bulk of the black population in Barbados, the Caribbean, South America, Central America and North America.

Welcome to Barbados!

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/346688878182273.php

Touchdown!
Published on: 2/1/08.

Buddy Larrier, from the Commission for Pan African Affairs helping passengers get through their paperwork.

THE PLAN FOR A direct fight between Barbados and Ghana, Africa, literally got off the ground, yesterday.

In fact, the pilot flight landed at Grantley Adams International Airport around 4:20 a.m. yesterday morning. However, not everything has been finalised as yet; so no further flights are planned until later into the year.

The local agent involved with making it possible are Remac Tours Limited. They have been trying for the past seven years to make the flight a reality, said George Knight, their marketing and sales director.

The Ghanaian side was being handled by Seasons Travel and Tours and the man responsible for bringing the two companies together is Dr Ntui Okey of the Trans-African Centre for Trade.

In his first Press conference as Minister of Tourism convened at the Sherbourne Conference Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael, Richard Sealy, pledged Government’s support and praised the involvement of the private sector in the initiative.

“People think Africa as a far-off continent . . . but this bridges the gap. It keeps with the thrust for heritage tourism and the uniqueness of our product,” he said.

Director of the Pan African Commission, Dr Ikael Tafari, said the flight was a way to “reconnect the umbilical cord after thousands were ripped from the womb of Africa”.

“In light of globalisation, we need to look to new frontiers. I suggest the business of opening new heritage destinations in Africa is important . . . Tourism will be the greatest beneficiary,” he said.

Currently, a flight from Ghana includes stops in either London, Frankfurt or Brazil and takes nine hours and about US$4 000 (BDS$8 000). With a direct flight, travel time would be cut to six hours and the cost to US$1 999 (BDS$4 000).

The initial flight was made with a smaller plane and brought 149 passengers from Accra, Ghana, and Lagos, Nigeria, to Barbados while the finalised flight would have 230 passengers.

Also attending the Press conference were president of the Barbados Tourism Authority, Stuart Layne; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Andrew Cox, and chief executive officer of Remac, Reynold McClean. (CA)

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-5810–26-26–.html

Barbados creates history with first flight from Africa

Published on Saturday, February 2, 2008

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Barbados turned over a new chapter in its aviation history following the historic arrival of a Ghanaian International Airlines commercial jet, which touched down at Grantley Adams International Airport on Friday.

The charter flight B757-200, carrying 160 passengers, departed Accra, Ghana, West Africa on February 1, which included a fuel stop in Sierra Leone, and continued en route to Barbados.

Ghanaian International Airlines

Speaking on Friday at a Press Conference, Barbados’ Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy, said that the historic flight will open a gateway of opportunities for Barbados.

“Barbadians share many cultural and historic similarities with many Africans, particularly those in the Western part of the continent. Given these similarities, Barbados as a destination would be able to capitalize on this opportunity and appeal to the heritage and cultural niche market segments in Ghana and Nigeria.

Similar comments were echoed by Stuart Layne, President and CEO of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), who expressed delight at the flight, which coincided with the start of Black history month.

“We are delighted that we finally made a breakthrough into the African market. The BTA has pledged its support to Remac Limited to access this market.”

Barbados, the most easterly island in the Caribbean island, is the closest country to Africa in the region.

The Ghana charter, which may become a regular service to the island, will make its return journey on February 15, 2008.

Of the 160 passengers on board, 40 were expected to proceed to St Lucia and Trinidad.