Into Africa: The Return

Yvonne Blackwood
Trafford Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9781426902659
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (8/09) 

 

Yvonne Blackwood’s “Into Africa: The Return” is a heartwarming story of a courageous woman who dared to step outside her comfort zone to discover her roots and give back to the land of her ancestors. “Into Africa: The Return” is the second book describing the author’s journey, and I do have to admit it piqued my interest enough that I know I will look for the first one as well.

Born in Jamaica and living in Canada, the author remembered all too well her Grandfather declaring himself to be an Ashanti, a statement that set her on the path to Africa much later in life. Having first visited Ghana in 1997, woefully unprepared for such a trip, she obviously fell under its spell. Therefore it should come as no surprise that she ventured back five years later, this time with two of her American cousins tagging along. Ghana has changed quite a bit in that short period of time, both on the global and on a personal level, with some people so dear to the author gone and new friends – and possibly more – entering her life this time around. In addition to that, she sponsored a young Ghanaian girl, and this second trip gave her a chance to meet her young protégée, Frieda.

I found the parts describing Africa’s sights, sounds, smells and tastes truly delightful. They were colorful, entertaining and made me want to jump in the middle of each of those scenes, even the dreaded canopy walk. On the other hand I felt a slight disconnect in the parts that dealt with the author’s feelings. While several opinions were expressed, I oftentimes felt she held back a large portion of her observations and innermost feelings, be it from a desire to keep them private, possibly protect somebody or simply because they were too difficult to deal with. This goes double for the descriptions of several characters in the book – I’d much rather know what made them tick than what color pants they wore on any given day.

Overall I found “Into Africa: The Return” by Yvonne Blackwood a slightly bittersweet and entirely wonderful book, one that will hopefully inspire many more people to look for their roots and try to understand the lands of their ancestors as well as get more closely connected with them. I would love to hear the rest of the story and find out what happened to Pastor Ray, Frieda and all of the wonderful people Yvonne Blackwood introduced to us in this book.

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