The real healing only occurs when we begin to work together, according to David Hume, and I have grown to agree with him on this point.
Healing Harm | Heeding History is an emotional justice event and experience bringing together black people in Ghana, on the continent, and the Diaspora to target black-on-black healing.
This event embraces a unique approach to bringing Ghana and the Diaspora together with the intent of facilitating healing for all blacks. The event, which takes place on Saturday, September 23, at LOATAD (Library of Africa and the African Diaspora) in Adenta Municipality, is created and engineered by the Armah Institute of Emotional Justice.
“This event expands the Year of Return focus, and it’s beyond the Return initiative to center Ghana and our emotional economy of blackness, which has been shaped by the legacies of colonialism, enslavement, multiple coups, devastating economics, and the challenges of every-day living.”
One of the nine pillars of ‘The Beyond the Year of Return’ is to ‘Give Back Ghana,’ an initiative that is all about finding ways to give back to the community.
It has been proven that your own healing is correlated with the healing of others. Simply put, the best way to cure yourself in this era shaped by the legacies of colonialism, enslavement, and numerous coups, as well as by the shattered economies and difficulties of daily life, is to provide healing to others.
“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.’’
Healing Harm | Heading History also serves as a bridge between Ghana and the diaspora, using healing to create and 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 history that we must heed, because it ends up creating harm that must be healed.’’
According to the CEO of the Armah Institute of Emotional Justice, Esther Armah, “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.’’
The best way to predict the future is to create it together; therefore, let’s all join forces and be the change we wish to see in our black society.
Source: 1Familyradio