Ghanaian IT Specialist in the USA Shares His Journey on SVTV Africa
Peter, a Ghanaian based in the United States, recently appeared on SVTV Africa’s Daily Hustle Worldwide show hosted by DJ Nyaami. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been in the U.S. for about 20 years.
Peter shared that both his parents lived in America while he grew up in Kumasi, staying with his uncle in Pankrono. “Later, my parents brought me to the U.S., and we settled in the Bronx, New York,” he said. “I lived there for a long time, went to university, and worked after school before moving to Atlanta. My parents eventually relocated from Charlotte to Denver, Colorado.”
Now, Peter works in IT cybersecurity — a field he’s been in for about four to five years. Before that, he was laid off from his previous job, which pushed him to make the switch to IT after trying other kinds of work.
Speaking about migration, Peter noted that many people in Ghana believe that moving abroad automatically guarantees success. He shared an experience during a trip with his wife to Niagara Falls, Canada. “We stopped at a Nigerian restaurant and met a Ghanaian man who had lived there for about a year and a half. The person who was supposed to help him abandoned him, and he ended up sleeping on a train for a week,” Peter revealed. “He spent about 70,000 to 80,000 cedis on his journey to Canada but was stranded. Many people are struggling abroad, but no one talks about it.”
Peter advised that anyone planning to travel should make sure they have proper documentation (nkrataa). “If you don’t, it’s better to stay in Ghana and use your money to start a business,” he said.
He also recalled how his father once brought trucks and car parts such as engines and transmissions to Ghana for business. Interestingly, Peter’s own children, though born in the U.S., have now relocated to Ghana and are schooling there.
“You can work so hard in America and still have nothing to show for it,” he concluded. Peter married his wife in Ghana and brought her to the U.S., and they have now been happily married for nine years.