Tété-Michel

Tété-Michel, author of ‘An African in Greenland’ left his Togo homeland in 1958, aged 16, for an improbable journey to the Polar regions.

He travelled along the west coast of Africa and crossed the whole of Europe doing temporary jobs including dishwashing in a restaurant in Copenhagen. There he bought his ticket onboard a cargo and passenger boat for Greenland and finally arrived at Qaqortoq in June 1965, eight years after his departure from Togo.

Tété-Michel spent 16 months travelling along the west coast from Qaqortoq to Upernavik staying in every town on the way but also in smaller places including Aappilattoq, living only in Inuit families. He spent the winter 1965-66 in Oqaatsut, then 160 inhabitants and 600 huskies.

Tété-Michel’s story has been the subject of a BBC documentary and his book ‘An African in Greenland’ originally written in French, has now been translated in over 10 different foreign languages.