Siphiwe Baleka and President Embalo of Guinea Bissau
You have been asking for it and now it is here! GROUP TOURS FOR DESCENDANTS OF GUINEA BISSAU AS PART OF THE OFFICIAL DECADE OF RETURN INITIATIVE.
On February 23, 2021, The Secretary of Tourism of Guinea Bissau sent the following message to the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America:
“Distinguished greetings,
Excellence,
It was up to me, as the maximum Responsible for this area and, WHEREAS the members of the Society of History and Genealogy Balanta Burassa in the United States of America, are now preparing to return to their origins, from 11 to 14 May and from 8 to 11 June, 2021 for a Welcome Celebration, something unprecedented in the history of our young nation; in this context, we would like to invite Your Excellency Illustrious Siphiwe Baleka, founder, to be present with his members at the referred event, which is of major importance for Guinea-Bissau.
Without another subject at the moment, please accept Excellency, best regards.
High regard
Ms. Nhima Sisse”
This is the official launch of the Decade of Return initiative in Guinea Bissau. This is the OFFICIAL program of the government to RECOGNIZE the descendants of people taken from homelands that became the nation of Guinea Bissau.
Anyone can return to Guinea Bissau as a tourist or as a business investor. There are plenty of private tour companies that can help you with that.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VISITING GUINEA BISSAU AS PART OF THE DECADE OF RETURN EVENTS, INCLUDING BEING PUT ON THE LIST OF VERIFIED DESCENDANTS OF GUINEA BISSAU ENTITLED TO A DIFFERENT STATUS, PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW.
Understanding the Decade of Return Initiative
To understand the background and development of this program, please read the article
Because of his extensive work in repatriation and immigration issues in Ethiopia and the African Union, Siphiwe Baleka has become an instrumental consultant to the Government of Guinea Bissau through the Ministry of Tourism. Currently, the Ministry has very little budget and capacity to handle various groups. This is compounded by the language barrier since there are few people that speak English. The solution was to create one entity “The Decade of Return Initiative” for all Guinea Bissau descendants in America, to work through. This would relieve the government of having to waste time and energy doing double work, communicating the same thing over and over again to different people, etc. Such a situation would burden the Ministry of Tourism. Because the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) is the most well known institution in the country of Guinea Bissau, its members visiting consistently since 2014, doing development projects, sending COVID relief aid and funds, and even giving Guinea Bissau an Olympic Swimmer and international attention, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Justice have given BBHAGSIA the authority to process Naturalizatio Applications for Citizenship as part of the Decade of Return Initiative.
The goal is to come to Guinea Bissau organized and centralized as one unit following this example: each group - Balanta, Fulani, Mandinga, Papel, Manjaco, Beafada, Mancanha, Bijago, Felupe, Mansoaca, and others are to register a non-profit 501c3 History and Genealogy Society in America (HAGSIA) like the Balanta and Djola have already done. These HAGSIA’s will all form a Lineage Restoration Council for Guinea Bissau (LRC-GB). This LRC-GB will work as ONE UNIT with the Ministry of Tourism to plan group tours for returning SONS AND DAUGHTERS, not tourists of business investors. In this way, the Government of Guinea Bissau can make one communication that will reach all the different descendants in Guinea Bissau. If you have ever been to Guinea Bissau, you will understand HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS.
If you want to make yourself known as a descendant of people from Guinea Bissau to the government, the first step is to complete this form below.