Watch as 70-year-old UK-based Ghanaian meets the daughter he gave away 45 years ago for the first time

For 70-year-old Kwesi, it took him all of his life to get to the point where all his emotional defences collapsed, having found the daughter he had at 25 but never saw again until now.

It was an emotional encounter when Kwesi got the rare chance to reconnect with his mixed-race daughter, Ruth, after all these years, simply because she had to be given up for adoption.

The reason? At the time Kwesi had her, there were still very strong, existing moral issues about people who had children out of wedlock, and even worse, the ones that involved relationships with people of the Black race.

Having found himself in such a double-whammy situation, he had no other option than to give her away.

But Kwesi told BBC One’s Reunion Hotel, “I always had a belief that I will find her one day.”

Well, dreams (beliefs) do come true, and that was how Kwesi got to reconnect with his daughter after 45 years.

And the best part of this story is that while Kwesi always knew a day like this would come, which is why he kept looking for Ruth, his daughter had also been searching for him.

It, therefore, did not take long during their first meeting, for both of them to tear up and just sit back and marvel at the wonder of having eventually found each other.

The smacking resemblance between the two of them settles any doubts.

“You’ve been on my mind for a long, long time,” Kwesi begins his conversation with Ruth.

“It’s not your fault; don’t worry. Children are not responsible for what happened about their parents. You’ve always been there, and I’ve always wanted to just find you and tell you who you are. That’s the reason, because I’m sure you’ve wondered who you are from your Black side.

“And I always knew that. I’m just so, so happy that I’ve found you,” an emotional Kwesi said to his daughter in their first meeting, while drenched in uncontrollable tears.

Ruth had little to say.

“I didn’t even know that you knew,” as she tried hard to fight back her tears.

Kwesi would later find out that all the while, Ruth made as much effort to keep her Ghanaian identity in her family by naming one of her sons by his native name, Kwabena.

Watch the full video below:

This story was initially published on Tuesday, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 . It is being reproduced as part of GhanaWeb's Year-in-Retrospect files as we wrap up the year.

AE/OGB