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Witness History: Arctic African

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Arctic African

03/01/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Arctic African

Tété-Michel Kpomassie, ran away from his village in Togo and went to live in Greenland.

Tété-Michel Kpomassie ran away from his village in Togo, determined to reach Greenland. In 1965 he fulfilled his dream of living among the indigenous people.

Tété-Michel Kpomassie grew up in West Africa but he was obsessed with the Arctic. When he was 16 years old he ran away from his village in Togo determined to reach Greenland.

It took him eight years but in 1965, he finally arrived. He then went north to fulfil his dream of living among the indigenous people.

Years later, he wrote an award-winning account of his odyssey, An African in Greenland, which has been translated into eight languages. In this programme, first broadcast in 2019, he tells Alex Last about his journey.

(Photo: Tété-Michel Kpomassie in Greenland in 1988. Credit: BBC)

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