Tété-Michel Kpomassie is traveller and writer, who ran away from home when he was 16 for his improbable journey to the Polar regions. His motivation for the journey was to escape from snakes that caused him a near death experience in his Togo homeland. He read in a book that in Greenland, there were no snakes nor trees in which they might hide! He travelled along the west coast of Africa doing temporary jobs in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mauritania. He was employed as a Clerk-Typist in Indian Embassy in Senegal for a few months in early 1960s’. His earning from the Indian Embassy enabled him to pay for his journey to Europe. He also picked up jobs in France, Germany and Denmark, including as a dishwasher, to finally reach Greenland after eight years since he left his home.
He spent a couple of years in Greenland and lived with native Inuit families before returning to Togo, which became an independent country in 1960 during his absence. He then started two-year tour of 16 African countries delivering talks in schools about Inuit people and culture compared to his own local traditions. Tété-Michel made four more trips to Greenland, the latest in 2023 and the next one is scheduled this year.
His book An African in Greenland originally written in French and published in 1981 has now been translated into over 10 foreign languages and his story has been the subject of the BBC documentary The African Eskimo in 1988. Shortlisted for the 1983 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the book came second behind From Heaven Lake by Vikram Seth.