HEALING HARM | HEEDING HISTORY is an Emotional Justice event and experience bringing together Black people in Ghana, on the Continent and in the Diaspora to target Blackon-Black healing.
This event takes a creative approach to bring Ghana and the Diaspora together to engage in the business of healing. The event is curated and created by The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice, and takes place on Saturday 23rd September at LOATAD (Library of Africa and The African Diaspora in Adenta Municipality. This space is not a traditional library – that can sometimes be dull and boring – LOATAD is a cultural institution, an event
space with beauty, books, art and heritage on its walls. It is a space that will come alive to
the HEALING HARM | HEEDING HISTORY event which features Dramatized Monologue by artist and actress PEARL KORKOR DARKEY, Emotional Justice Libation by ALLYSON WILLIAMS, Facilitated Dialogue by ESTHER A. `ARMAH, all led by a Mistress of Ceremonies NYAMAL TUTDEAL.
This event expands the Year of Return focus and it’s Beyond The Return initiative to center Ghana and our emotional economy of Blackness that has been shaped by the legacies of colonialism, enslavement and the multiple coups, devastated economies and the challenges of everyday living.
The Beyond the Year of Return initiative has nine pillars, one of which is ‘Give Back Ghana’, which is about finding ways to give back to the community. This event gives back by supporting all our communities with Healing. Healing is one of the best ways to give to our community because it strengthens us as a people.
In Ghana, we focus on strengthening our fiscal economy to improve our lives, there is also an emotional economy that needs strengthening. That emotional economy connects to our identity as Ghanaians and how we see ourselves, treat each other and connect to the rest of the world.
Another pillar of the Beyond The Year of Return Initiative is ‘Diaspora Pathways’. It is about connecting with the diaspora through relocation, citizenship, and educational opportunities. Healing Harm, Heeding History is a way of bridging the gap between our two global communities using healing to create/strengthen bonds between us.
This is crucial because across the Continent, there has been an attempt to separate and segregate us as Black people, with the idea that Black people from different parts of the world being here represents a threat to those born, raised and already here. This notion can take root and become violent – that has happened in South Africa with Nigerians. That is part of the history that we must heed, because it ends up creating a harm that must be healed.
“You cannot heal a harm you have not identified or heed a history you do not know. This event series is a community gathering to do both, centering our soil, here in Ghana” says Esther Armah, CEO, The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice.
