Tag: Americans visiting Africa

Ancestry

Black & Abroad founders encourage African Americans to visit their ancestral continent
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Black & Abroad, an online travel and lifestyle platform, encourages African Americans to visit such ancestral countries as Senegal through a new project called “Go Back to Africa.”

By Andrea Sachs

Eric Martin and Kent Johnson found inspiration in the offensive. Four years ago, the pair launched Black & Abroad, an online travel and lifestyle platform for African Americans.

Continue reading “Black & Abroad founders encourage African Americans to visit their ancestral continent” →
Ancestry

AfricanAncestry.com to Host Ancestral Reveal For African-Americans at Ghana’s ‘Door of No Return’
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Ancestry Pioneer Joins NAACP’s Jamestown to Jamestown Delegation and Ghana’s The Year of Return 2019

Nearly four hundred years ago the first enslaved Africans were sold to America, losing much of their rich African heritage. This August, AfricanAncestry.com will correct history for many African Americans in an historic ancestral Reveal hosted on African soil. The event takes place in Accra, Ghana, and is a part of the NAACP’s Jamestown to Jamestown event in partnership with Ghana’s Year of Return 2019.

Continue reading “AfricanAncestry.com to Host Ancestral Reveal For African-Americans at Ghana’s ‘Door of No Return’” →
Ancestry

Webster professor connected to African roots in Nigeria by ancestry test
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This month, Dr. Cummings will travel to Nigeria, where many of her ancestors came from.

By Carol Daniel

A Webster University professor has long been an amateur genealogist but her discoveries took a huge leap forward with her recent ancestry.com test. Because family ties were severed by slavery in the United States, most African-Americans had little hope of finding relatives in Africa.

Continue reading “Webster professor connected to African roots in Nigeria by ancestry test” →
News, Visit to Africa

Ivanka Trump Announces $2 Million for Women in Ivory Coast Cocoa Industry
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ADZOPE, IVORY COAST —U.S. President Donald’s Trump’s daughter and senior White House advisor, Ivanka Trump, has announced a $2 million commitment to help women in Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry.

Speaking at Cayat, a cocoa cooperative in the town of Adzopé, Trump said Wednesday the $2 million, promised by USAID and private chocolate companies, would go toward savings associations, which are a popular way for businesswomen to gain capital in the West African country.

White House Advisor Ivanka Trump talks to women entrepreneurs, at the demonstration cocoa farm in Adzope, Ivory Coast April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

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Diplomacy, Visit to Africa

Ivanka Trump concludes visit to Ethiopia
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By Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

Senior White House advisor and daughter of United States president, Ivanka Trump, concluded her visit to Ethiopia describing the two-day experience as an “incredible trip.” She arrived in the country on Sunday hailing Addis Ababa as the “diplomatic capital of Africa and the continent’s highest city.”

The period of her stay has been packed since arrival through to departure.

In between the period, she savored the acclaimed Ethiopian coffee, signed deals aimed at women empowerment – the reason she embarked on the trip, paid tribute to victims of Boeing 737 MAX accident and met Lucy.

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Uncategorized

Ivanka Trump In Africa For Women’s Economic Summit
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Ivanka Trump arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Sunday for a summit on African women’s economic inclusion and anka Trump arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Sunday for a summit on African women\’s economic inclusion and empowerment.

In addition to attending the summit, the daughter of the U.S. president, who is also an advisor to her father, will meet with female workers in the coffee industry, and tour a female-run textile facility.

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This American is helping Kenyan Students study In US universities
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By Steven Withrow

Many things surprised Connor J. Cobb in his first months working with high school graduates in Kenya—an East African country of nearly 50 million people—and one thing he did not expect to find was that some Kenyan runners he met in his travels would already know of his hometown of Falmouth and the Falmouth Road Race.

The 24-year-old member of the Falmouth Track Club, who graduated from Falmouth High School in 2013 and graduated last May from Wesleyan University with a degree in European history, has been working for the Kenya Scholar-Athlete Project, or KenSAP, since September.

He recently returned home for a month of college admissions visits for the nonprofit, including at his alma mater, before returning to Kenya.

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Ancestry

NAACP Announces Memorial Trip to Ghana
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  • Jamestown to Jamestown memorial trip to Ghana announced to commemorate 400 years of African diaspora
     

The Jamestown to Jamestown Memorial Trip to Ghana, an official event of Ghana’s Year of Return, was announced at the 50th NAACP Image Awards in Hollywood, California by Diallo Sumbry, Ghana’s first Black American Tourism Ambassador, in partnership with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

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Uncategorized

American students visit Africa via Motherland Connect
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By Maya DuBois 

The non-profit organization Motherland Connect takes HBCU students to their African roots one country at a time.

The Motherland Connect started in South Africa and it operates on Florida A&M University’s campus via political science assistant professor Christopher Daniels. Continue reading “American students visit Africa via Motherland Connect” →

Uncategorized

Why an African American Free Masons group “returned” to one of slave trade’s darkest places
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By Joy Notoma

When a group of Prince Hall Masons from North Carolina arrived in Cotonou, Benin last month for the inauguration of a new grand lodge in Cotonou, the cultural significance wasn’t lost on the masons from Benin.

After The American Revolutionary War (1775-83), a formerly enslaved man from Massachusetts who had fought in the war for independence, was attracted to Freemason ideals like brotherly love, justice, and liberty, but the exclusively white group wouldn’t allow a black man in its ranks. The man, Prince Hall, wasn’t one to take no for an answer, though.

With all the traditional tenets of masonry, he decided to start his own group of masons.

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US civil rights legend, Andrew Young, gives South Africa some DIY advice
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Don’t count on governments to end poverty – they’re all broke
By Peter Fabricius

US civil rights legend Andrew Young jolted many in his audience at the University of Johannesburg last week when he advised them to stop counting on the government to eradicate poverty and to rely instead on themselves – and the private sector.

“When people talk about governments ending poverty, it’s just not realistic…governments are all in debt,” he said.
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Science and Tech.

Gray Matters Capital Selects Two African Start-Ups for its Digital Self-Learning to Earning Accelerator GMC Calibrator
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Gray Matters Capital, a US-based impact investor focused on the funding for-profit social enterprises in markets of Africa, India, Latin America, USA and South East Asia, has announced the names of the start-ups which have made it to the second cohort of its GMC Calibrator Program.

The GMC Calibrator is a Digital Self-learning to Earning Accelerator launched by Gray Matters Capital in April 2018 with an aim to make the mobile phone a device to promote Self Learning to Earning by improving user engagement, monetization and optimization of mobile learning platforms. This is done by understanding and implementing the principles of behavioural science and data driven decision making.

The cohort of March 2019 of the program has two start-ups from Africa – Sierra Leone based Mobile Learning Platform for Financial Inclusion Mosabi and Kenya s leading Parenting Website Mums Village joining seven other start-ups from India and Vietnam.

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Education

New African diaspora studies program starts at University of Oregon-Includes visit to Ghana
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Bridging the gap between the African and African-American experience is the goal of a new study abroad program offered by University of Oregon’s Global Education Oregon program.

The program is partnering with two historically black colleges and universities on the study abroad experience. At least 15 students will be able to enroll in the program; the application deadline is March 15.

Students will begin by spending time in New Orleans. The city, which served as the first port of entry for many slaves coming to America, retains cultural and historical markers, many of which are still apparent today. Students will stay on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana and visit landmarks and other important sites in the state.

From there, students will travel to Ghana, where they will live with host families while attending classes and excursions, including visits to historical points of interest related to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. At the conclusion of the program, the group will travel to Kumasi and to Cape Coast to visit one of the largest open-air markets in Africa and to see the castles used in the slave trade.

Continue reading “New African diaspora studies program starts at University of Oregon-Includes visit to Ghana” →

Uncategorized

US Army captain killed in Ethiopia plane crash   
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By: Kathleen Curthoys

Army Capt. Antoine Lewis was one of eight Americans killed when an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, news reports say.

Lewis was on the flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya, when Flight 302 crashed, killing all 157 people aboard, according to aCBS report from Chicago.

Lewis was stationed in Ottawa, Canada, and he was on a vacation to Africa, his family said.

“I will say that plane went down with him doing what he wanted to do most, and that was to stretch out and embrace our mother country,” his mother, Antoinette Lewis, said in the CBS report.

His family, from the Chicago suburb of Matteson, Illinios, knew he was on the plane, tried calling him and didn’t get an answer, the report said.

Lewis, 39, had served in Afghanistan and South Korea during his military career, ABC 7 in Chicago reported. He was in Africa to do missionary work, the report said.

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Uncategorized

Ethiopians, Americans, Canadians, Kenyans and Chinese among dead as Ethiopian Airlines plane crashes
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An Ethiopian Airlines plane en route to Nairobi, Kenya has crashed 6 minutes after taking off from Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. None of the 157 people on board has survived, the airline said.

Ethiopian state media said more than 30 nationalities were on board flight ET 302 including  32 Kenyans and nine Ethiopians, 18 Canadians; eight each from China, the United States and Italy; seven each from France and Britain; six from Egypt; five from the Netherlands and four each from India and Slovakia. Spain’s foreign ministry said two Spanish nationals were on the passenger list.

Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s most successful airline flying to 190 destinations with one of the most modern fleet in the world. The crashed plane was a Boeing 737 Max acquired brand new from Boeing only a four months ago.

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Education

Howard Business School Students Travel To Ghana As Global Business Consultants
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Each year a group of students at Howard University School of Business travel abroad to put their classroom instruction to work as international business consultants to companies across the world.

Twelve students enrolled in the Global Trilateral MBA (GTMBA) program at Howard University began their travel to Accra, Ghana on Friday, March 8 for a week-long, immersive, global experience working as business consultants to two Ghanaian companies, including Chocolate Clothes, a Ghanaian fashion company whose Founder and CEO, Kwaku Bediako, has designed for international and American stars alike. .

“The mission of our program is to connect students at multiple institutions through a consulting project that allows them to work side by side as global business consultants,” says Curtis Kidd Telemaque, Ph.D., adjunct faculty member for Howard University School of Businessand one of two faculty members accompanying the students to Ghana.

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Uncategorized

African-American business delegation visits Ghanaian Osu community
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A 16-MEMBER Black American business delegation arrived last Wednesday to a rousing traditional welcome by the Osu Traditional Stool.

The delegation was received by the Osu Alata Mantse, Nii Kwabena Bonne V, on behalf of the Osu Traditional Council.

Welcoming the delegation, Nii Bonne V said he believed that the business executives were coming back to their homeland 400 years after their ancestors had gone into captivity abroad.

The delegation is in the country at the invitation of the Ghana International Chamber of Commerce and Yoks Investments Ltd, a local private company.

Led by a business strategist and the President of the National Black MBA Association, Mr Jesse Tyson, the delegation is in the country to reconnect with their roots as part of the Year of Return.

The visit is also to afford the delegation the opportunity to explore possibilities and opportunities to connect with local businesses and also enter into partnerships with local businesses.

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Ancestry

I’m a prince’: An American pastor shocked to find he has African royal ties
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It was about 4am when his phone buzzed with a message from far away. He read it once, twice, three times before he woke his wife to tell her the news.

“I’m a prince,” he whispered as she blinked herself awake. “A prince.”

Jay Speights, an interfaith pastor from Maryland, US, could hardly believe the words as he formed them in his mouth. Him? A prince? He grew up in New Jersey. He lives in an apartment. He does not even own a car.

Speights, 66, had spent much of his life wondering about his forebears, probing public records until the trail went cold. Like many black Americans who are descendants of slaves, Speights could find little written evidence of his family’s history. In April, he turned to a DNA test from Ancestry in the hope that something, somewhere might turn up.

He was identified as the distant cousin of a man named Houanlokonon Deka – a descendant of a royal line in Benin, a small nation that once housed West Africa’s biggest slave port. At the urging of a friend, he ran his DNA data through another database that looks for matches between African Americans and Africans who have taken such tests.
Continue reading “I’m a prince’: An American pastor shocked to find he has African royal ties” →

Uncategorized

Washington-based Adinkra Group set to kick off The 2019 Back2Africa Festival & Tour in Accra
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The Adinkra Group, an African Cultural Edutainment Resource and Consulting company based in Washington, DC, is set to launch the second annual Back2Africa Festival and Tour in partnership with The Ghana Tourism Authority and the Year of Return, from 26th of February to the 8th of March 2019 with a line-up of events that focuses on arts, performances, education and service projects in Ghana’s most historic venues in Kumasi, Cape Coast and Accra.

The Back2Africa Festival’s mission is to connect people of African descent with the culture and traditions of Africa and will feature performances from artists traveling from the US including The CrossRhodes, a duo comprised of R&B/Soul Sensation Raheem Devaughn and hip hop emcee Wes Felton and Farafina Kan: The Sound Africa – an intergenerational West African Drum and dance company.

The Back2Africa Festival’s mission is to connect people of African descent with the culture and traditions of Africa and will feature performances from artists traveling from the US including The CrossRhodes, a duo comprised of R&B/Soul Sensation Raheem Devaughn and hip hop emcee Wes Felton and Farafina Kan: The Sound Africa – an intergenerational West African Drum and dance company.

“The Back2Africa Festival and Tour is important particularly as it truly represents the spirit of the Year of Return. We are a family and community on a birthright journey returning to make connections. It’s the first time to Ghana and the African continent for the majority of our group of nearly 100 travellers aged between 6 – 65 years old who are coming to enjoy Ghana but also to learn, share and exchange their talents, perspectives and energy with Ghanaian people,” shares Diallo “Daheart” Sumbry, Founder of The Adinkra Group and a life-long educator who has been travelling to Africa for over 20 years.

Continue reading “Washington-based Adinkra Group set to kick off The 2019 Back2Africa Festival & Tour in Accra” →

Uncategorized

Ghana Earning Its Stars And Stripes Through Tourism
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Outside Accra’s shiny new Kotoka International Airport is a fleet of 30 black Land Cruisers waiting for a motley group of 60 African-Americans gripped by wanderlust.

The airport, birthed from the partnership between Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), now processes around 1,250 passengers per hour with a goal of welcoming some six million passengers each year to the leafy West African country, according to Joshua Otchere of Ghana Immigration Service.

This is Ghana’s attempt to become the hub of sub-regional travel by distinguishing itself from the likes of Lagos.

“We are now offering better services, faster turnaround times from airlines and a world-class experience when traveling, which we believe will compete with the rest of the world along with great retail spaces,” says Otchere.

It is a fitting welcome to the star-studded group of visitors including international supermodel Naomi Campbell and actors Idris Elba, Anthony Anderson and Rosario Dawson among many others. Ghana, once a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to the 19th centuries, has several historical ties with the USA.

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Visit to Africa

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2019: ‘Year of Return, Ghana 2019’ initiative invites African-Americans back to Africa
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Given its history and commitment to the unification of African peoples throughout the world, it’s not surprising that the government of Ghana is sponsoring an unprecedented “Year of Return” in 2019, during which people of African descent in North America are invited to visit Ghana.

Described as an event to celebrate the resilience of African people and to mark the 400th anniversary of the first Africans being forcibly transported to what is now the United States of America, it was officially launched in August 2018 in Ghana and announced in September at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Year-round events, activities and special happenings abound in Ghana.

Continue reading “BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2019: ‘Year of Return, Ghana 2019’ initiative invites African-Americans back to Africa” →

Uncategorized

‘Come Back Home,’ says Pittsburgh resident Jay Donaldson after visit to Ghana
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My first visit to Ghana this past summer of 2018 was filled with expected adventure, pleasures, learning. I did not know how I would be accepted. My thoughts were that I may be taken advantage of as a foreigner. I held my guard up for what may be the unexpected. My passion/love for my Black people gave me strength; I now know that there’s a plenty we didn’t know about our past.

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Uncategorized

The Tale of Two Sisters: A Journey to West Africa
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By Helen Frazier

My sister and I traveled to the continent of Africa and visited the nations of Liberia and Ghana. Since this was my first trip visiting the “motherland”, I had no idea that it would take my sister’s knowledge after visiting twice per year for 15 years to keep me safe. Upon our arrival at what I didn’t recognize as an airport, I was met with bribes by security personnel. If it had not been for my sister’s knowledge on how to navigate traveling to another country, I might have missed the opportunity to realize the full benefit of experiencing a culture so different from that of my own.

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