But when she was 14 years old, a class trip to the continent was announced at her school; something clicked and she became excited.
She ran home and told her mother who, equally enthused, joined the trip as a chaperone. They travelled to Ghana, and their hearts never left.
Ms Aidoo still tears up when she thinks about the day they first set foot on African soil.
'I felt free in Africa'
"This was 42 years ago but I still remember. I was so taken by the energy. I actually got down on my knees and kissed the ground."Even the air in my lungs was right. It was like I was home".
She did go back to the US, but her mother stayed in Ghana, and eventually founded the Akoma Academy.
She helped her mother run the school, and when her mother passed away, she took over.
Although she does miss the rest of her family who are still in Detroit, moving back there is not an option for her.
Ghana is 'much less stressful'
"In America everybody keeps to themselves and they're afraid to get involved in anybody's issues. I would be so alone there," she tells me."Here, I'm enclosed in this warm community bubble. I wouldn't want to leave that."
There are lots of other things she loves about living in Ghana.
The food is cleaner, she has financial freedom, and it is generally less stressful, she says.
She also feels that she is making a real contribution to the community.
The school tries to promote a positive self-image among its students, teaching African history so that they can be proud of their heritage.
Some of the children attend free-of-charge, and she finds sponsors for others who also cannot afford the fees.
Like Ms Aidoo, Imakhus Okofu did not know much about Africa before she came to Ghana, but her reasons for coming had nothing to do with sentiment.
"I didn't come to Ghana because I had some yearning to want to be in Africa," she tells me.
"Based on what media and what everyone told us about it, the last place I wanted to be was in Africa."
She was working as a travel agent in New York when she decided she needed to experience Africa herself before she recommended it as a tourist destination.
So at the age of 50 she came to Ghana with business in mind, but as part of her tour she paid a visit to what was once a slave dungeon - and it changed her life.
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