Afro-Americans in TZ to learn ancestral roots

A GROUP of 36 African-Americans has arrived in Tanzania for a fact-finding mission to discover their ancestral origin.

The group, which landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) on July 10, 2018, has embarked on their trip in the northern tourism circuit to learn their ancestral origin.

Parks Adventure Ltd, the travel company behind the group, said the trip, the first of its kind in Tanzania, would enable the African-Americans to explore their ancestral history through places, objects and tastes.

The African-Americans say they have passionate interest in bridging the cultural gap by coming back home to explore their heritage and fill the void.

“Much as America was founded by immigrants, we hold our ancestral heritage near and dear. That’s why we seek to learn more about the land of our ancestors,” the leader of the Afro-American tourists, Ms Betty Arnold, told a press conference in Arusha.

She noted that their maiden seven-day trip from Arusha to Zanzibar was not a real leisure tour, but rather it was community engagement, where they shared dollars and other fortunes with a destitute community.

“Apart from our key mission of discovering our ancestral roots, we came to spend money to contribute to the welfare of our relatives,” Ms Arnold told the conference at the Boma of Africa’s remaining polygamy icon, Laibon Meshuku ole Mapii, at Esilalei Village in Monduli District, Arusha Region.

The group spent about three hours, chanting as well as ululating with 108-year old polygamist ole Mapi, where they had not only enjoyed in interacting with him and his enormous family, but also donated solar lamps and scholastic materials to 244 pupils schooling at his own primary school.

He, probably the most revered Maasai polygamist, is running his own household near Manyara National Park. An indigenous gentleman, ole Mapi, is proudly husband to 44 wives and father to 80 children and grandparent to hundreds of grandchildren.

They also visited the historical Prison Island popularly known as Changuu Island that lies a 30-minute boat ride from Unguja.

The Island was once used by an Arab trader to contain the slaves he had bought from the mainland to prevent their escape before shipping them to Arabian traders or for auctioning at Zanzibar slave trade market.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Diamond aibua jipya tuhuma za Hamisa Mobetto kupigwa na Bi. Sandrah

Idris Sultan ‘Mi Nina Kiingereza, Shilole una Nyumba Nani Anamcheka Mwenzie’

Sababu ya kuachiwa Babu Tale ni kuwa amri ya kumkamata yeye na ndugu yake Idd Shaban Taletale ilitolewa kimakosa

Zari Amkumbuka Ivan Katika Kumbukumbu Ya Kifo Chake....Leo Katimiza Mwaka Mmoja

Diamond Platnumz Apewa Gari Mpya na Uongozi wake wa Wasafi