After tracing my roots to the Motherland, specifically Sierra Leone (Mende) and Liberia (Kru), I had two immediate goals: repatriation and investment.  I’ve done the former; I’m working on the latter; and I recently met a www.africanancestry.com family member who’d done both!   Once he traced his maternal roots to the Ga Adangbe peoples of Ghana, Brooklyn native, Brian Williams, made the trek to the capital city of Accra in 2005, and today is a proud owner of Ghana’s Sanaa Hotel!

The Sanaa (which means “treasure”) Hotel is wholly owned by people of the Diaspora and is located a stone’s throw from Cape Coast Slave Castle and just minutes from Elmina Castle.

After learning of his lineage, Brian set out on a pilgrimage to Ghana’s capital city, Accra.  According to Brian, “I saw an elder there who looked identical to my aunt who raised me.  She was in a marketplace.  My Guide introduced me to her and she said I looked like her father who was sent to the states and never came back.  After she heard I was there in search of my ancestry, she told me her brother was a Paramount Chief in a place called Kokrobite (a small fishing village west of Accra).   So, I went there and sat before a group of elders.  A Linguist asked questions.  Then, they decided I was part of their group – without even looking at my DNA documents, they knew. They said, ‘you’ve been accepted.’ Then, they did a traditional naming ceremony there at the Chief’s house.”

On a return visit in September 2010, Brian was enstooled as Chief Nii Arde Anum 1, the “Noa Mantse” or Development Chief of three Ghanaian villages.

 Center:  Brian Williams aka Chief Noa Mantse

Still living in the U.S, Brian makes the trek to Ghana every 3-4 months to fulfill his chiefly duties of building up visibility of the villages and aggregating education supplies.  He also heads up security at his hotel and elsewhere in the country.  A security specialist and Private Investigator by trade, Brian trains security professionals throughout Ghana, including the former President’s secret service team.

Brian is just a handful of African Americans who’ve invested in Africa once tracing their roots there.  If you’ve traced your roots to Africa and have an interesting story to tell, shoot me an email at sneal@africanancestry.com, I’d love to share it here.   Until next time…

Amani (peace)!

AfricanAncestry.com Fast Fact:

Interested in investing in Africa?  It does boast of some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. 

“Roots” made such an impression on me, that I look forward on this 35^th Anniversary of the mini-series to hear how it inspired you!   www.africanancestry.com  family member, Paula Whatley Matabane (Washington DC) shares that she had high praise for the series but for one issue:

“I’m Southern, and when I heard the dialogue, I knew no one had coached the actors.  It irritated me to no end.  If they were Shakespearian actors they’d have to learn the Elizabethian language. So why didn’t these actors have a dialogue coach?  Also, in the book, Kunte doesn’t speak English for a long time. This was a powerful way of preserving his true identity and culture. That power was lost in the TV series by ignoring Kunte’s non-English period and the inauthentic dialogue.”

Despite Paula’s issues with the dialogue, she still applauds the series for the audience it drew, and she’s been deeply rooted – pardon the pun – in chasing her roots ever since.  “I come from a family of griots,” she explained.  In fact, Paula’s maternal grandmother actually wrote her own autobiography in 1948.  “My family shared stories from generation to generation because we believe that you don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”  She traced her father’s line as far back as the 1700s, and she knows that her ancestors ended up on a plantation in Russell County, Alabama.

Paula’s great, great grandparents, Cornelia & David Silas

But Paula wanted to know more!  Relying on DNA, she embarked on a search with a company that could trace her roots to West Africa. That still wasn’t enough for her! Then, thanks to the www.africanancestry.com  database, she was able to trace her maternal line to the Mende people living in Sierra Leone today, and the Temne of Guinea-Bissau. Paula shares, “When I first got the results, I was ecstatic!  Ironically, long before DNA testing, a Creole (Krio) sister from Sierra Leone became my best friend and was present in the delivery room when my daughter was born in 1977 – yes, the same year “Roots” premiered. Learning about my Mende roots made me wonder if this sister was sent by the Mende and Temne ancestresses to look after me.” Hey, you never know, my Mende cuz! Thanks for sharing, Paula!

Now it’s your turn… On this 35^th Anniversary of “Roots,” let us know (sneal@africanancestry.com) if and how the series influenced you to trace your roots, and give us your feedback on the mini-series itself. Look for comments from some of the stars of “Roots” who traced their own roots in my future blogs. Until then… Amani (peace)!