The Founder of Gone Again Travel and Tours, Ms. Crystal Dyer, on Monday, 12th October, 2026, paid a courtesy call on the Yagbonwura, Bii-Kunuto Jewu Soale I, Overlord of the Gonja Kingdom, in Damongo in the Savannah Region.
Ms. Dyer is an accredited travel adviser with experience in group travel, cultural tourism and educational travel. She also founded Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures, a non-profit organisation that promotes cultural exposure and educational experiences for young people.
Speaking after the visit, she described her company as an African American travel company whose mission is to bridge the diaspora with Africa. She said she has brought high school students to Ghana for the past eight years, and for the last three years has been bringing them to the north, where, in her words, the true history of the African exodus through the slave trade began.
According to her, it was her first successful meeting with the Overlord, having tried three times before. She was in the area in June, when she was given the traditional name “Mapuchi”. She said Illinois State Representative LaShawn K. Ford, who chairs the Higher Education Appropriations Committee in Springfield and is soon to be an elected congressman, was also given a name and traditional garments during the June visit.
Ms. Dyer said the purpose of the latest visit was to inform the king that her team is finalising a country tour to add an accredited college programme that will bring more American students to Africa to study. She said partnerships with colleges and universities in the United States would bring increased prosperity to the north and to Ghana as a whole.
She added that Mr. Ford has promised that, once in Congress, he will work to change current policies in Washington to allow a cross-exchange that would enable Ghanaian students to study in the United States.
Ms. Dyer said the kingdom also made a request for a library and a museum. She promised to return to the United States, share details of the meeting and begin working on collaborations to fulfil the request.
“I was so honoured to meet the king today,” she said.
Mr. Mohammed Muniru Cosmos, CEO of Ndewura’s Travel and Tour and Co-Chair of the Northern Ghana Diaspora Association, explained that this trip focused on plans to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with universities across Ghana, with the company’s representative in the northern part of the country playing a role in the process.
He said planning began towards the end of last year, when efforts were made to mobilise universities and colleges. Early this year, another meeting was held with institutions including the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale, Tamale Technical University, Volta Technical University, Savannah College of Education, Damongo Agricultural College and the University of Business and Allied Studies. He said the institutions expressed interest in the programme during these earlier discussions.
The MOU signings began on Friday with UDS in Tamale, followed by Tamale Technical University on Saturday and Volta Technical University on Sunday.
Mr. Cosmos said the programme is intended to create opportunities for students and lecturers from Ghanaian universities and colleges to take part in educational programmes in the United States. He added that students from colleges may progress to universities through transfer arrangements.
