Coming Home: Turning Pain into a New Beginning — Reflections on the return of Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa

I watched the news reports on the xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans with a heavy heart. To see brothers turn on brothers on this continent is a wound that cuts deep. But in the middle of that pain, another story is quietly unfolding — the story of our people coming home. The first batch of evacuees have already arrived, The second batch of evacuees arrived last Sunday. Ghana is receiving her own, and that matters.

The Human Cost of Coming Back
Returning home after trauma is not simply about landing at Accra International Airport. Many of our evacuees arrive carrying invisible luggage — anxiety, grief, and profound uncertainty. They have lost shops, goods, and years of painstaking work. They have lost the dream they boarded a plane with years ago. That weight is real, and it deserves to be acknowledged before anything else.

This is why I wholeheartedly support the Minister's assurance of psychological assistance for returnees. That is not a luxury — it is the foundation. You cannot rebuild your life if your mind is still at the scene of the attack. Counselling, safe spaces to process grief, and community support must be treated as essentials, not afterthoughts.

Settling In Without Feeling Like a Burden

The question many evacuees are quietly asking is: Will I become a burden on my family? The honest answer is no — provided we start small and start now. Ghana holds opportunities, but patience is the currency required to unlock them.

A few practical starting points:

• Start where you are. Trading, small-scale farming, food vending, transport, and digital skills are all viable entry points. The capital required is often far less than what was lost in South Africa.

• Use what South Africa taught you. Customer service, retailing, pricing, and the ability to survive under pressure — that is real business experience. It transfers. Apply it here.

Leverage available support systems. The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), and district assemblies may have programmes tailored for returnees and young entrepreneurs. Ask questions. Submit applications. Do not suffer in silence.

For young returnees without dependents, the path to stability is faster. Fewer obligations create room to take risks, learn trades, and build steadily. For those with families, the priority is simple: protect the home first, then expand.

To Go Back or to Move Forward?
Some evacuees will eventually choose to return to South Africa. Others will set their sights on other destinations. That is a deeply personal decision, and it deserves to be respected. But before anyone books another flight, the counsel is this: pause. Monitor. Give home a genuine chance first.

Agriculture is transforming with mechanisation. Entrepreneurship is expanding through e-commerce. Trade is evolving well beyond the roadside stall. Under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the continent is doing business with itself in ways that were not possible a decade ago — and Ghana is well positioned within that shift.

One image stayed with me: a video of an evacuee who thanked South Africans for the attacks, saying the violence removed every last hesitation about coming home. That is perspective forged in pain. Sometimes a door slammed shut is the only thing that makes us notice the windows that have been open all along.

The Opportunity Waiting at Home
Let us be candid: recovery will not be instant. But it is possible. The same resilience that kept our people alive in South Africa can build something lasting here. Start small. Sell five crates of eggs before you dream of a poultry farm. Move three dresses online before you consider renting a shop. Grow deliberately, with time on your side.

The youth, in particular, have a powerful combination working in their favour — energy and home advantage. This is not the moment to sit idle. It is the moment to begin.

Acknowledgement Where It Is Due
Credit must go to the Government and the Minister for the speed and resolve with which our people were brought home. Evacuation is more than a logistical exercise. It is an act of dignity. It is the state saying to its citizens: you matter. The harder work of resettlement now begins, and it will require all of us — families, faith communities, local authorities, and the evacuees themselves — to play a part.

A Final Thought
Pain has two directions. It can paralyse, or it can pivot you toward something new. The attacks were an act of evil. But the response can be one of wisdom. Heal first. Then build.

You are not starting from zero. You are starting from experience.

Home is not a step back. Home can be the launchpad.

Author: Felix Ekow Eshun
Founder, Lixfel
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