‘I’m In Paradise, Not Going Back to Babylon’: Entrepreneur from Harlem Who Moved to Ghana Says He Has No Intentions of Moving Back to America
“I’m the one in paradise, don’t encourage me to go back to Babylon,” said Rashad McCrorey, an entrepreneur from Harlem, New York, about being in Ghana.
Last year, while most travelers were scrambling to book the last available flights home before international airports shut down indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McCrorey made the decision to stay in Ghana.
A single man in his 40s, McCrorey is the owner of Africa Cross Culture, a travel company that books tours for African-Americans to different African countries. At the beginning of March 2020, he had a small tour group in Ghana when the news was reporting the onset of the global pandemic and warning travelers to go home or risk being stuck abroad indefinitely.
“What originally brought me to Ghana was I was hosting a tour for some other Black Americans from my travel company,” he said. “As the trip started to progress, we started to hear more news about the coronavirus breaking out at home and threats of closing the border.” McCrorey, who had traveled to Ghana and other African countries many times before, said after weighing his options and knowing his finances were in order, he made the decision to stay in Ghana.
