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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro and Eromo Egbejule in Abidjan

‘Africa is where I’m from’: why some Black Brazilians are moving to Benin

A man in a yellow shirt stands against a mosaic depicting a of a man in a white suit and a lady is a pink dress
João Augusto Santos Batista, 33, AKA João Diamante, is a famous Brazilian chef who aims to become a citizen of Benin. Photograph: João Laet/The Guardian

João Diamante was gripped by a sense of belonging as he stepped out of the airport terminal thousands of miles from his birthplace in Brazil.

“The first thing I felt was that I was at home,” recalled the 33-year-old celebrity chef from Rio. “Nobody looked at me like they were afraid of me because of the colour of my skin … On the contrary, I saw people just like me. I saw similarities.

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