A Spring Break of "Roots"
Last week was my spring break from school but it didn't actually feel like it with all of the catch-up studying I had to do and errands I had to run. I don't think I actually had one day for myself. But I guess I can't complain since I didn't have to wake up at 6am on any of the days. I can't say anything special happened or that I really "enjoyed" my break like I feel I should have.
A crazy event did happen during the break through. MY CAR WAS STOLEN!!! Yes, from right in front of my house. I went to the libary to study that evening and returned home around 9pm. I ate, watched the "Roots" special on TV, and around midnight I checked the front door to make sure it was locked before I went to bed. I slept all through the night this time and woke up remembering I needed to get something out of my mother's car before she left for work. When I opened the front door to get the stuff, I realized MY CAR WAS GONE!!!!! All along I had a feeling that something would happen to the car because it's one of the most frequently stolen, a Honda, only second stolen to the Toyota Camary.
Needless to say, I was bumbed and worried about how to get around and make all the appointments that I had for the week, plus get to work. Fortunately, I was able to use my mom's car. I was a little worried that I wouldn't get the car back but then decided that the situation is not in my hands; I needed to leave it all to the big Man upstairs. And surely enough, 3 days later, the car was found down in Virginia. I definitely can not complain because I got the car back in good condition. None of the parts were stolen. There was some damage to the car though, but not as much as I had expected to see. Whoever stole the care punched the ignition (that means the place where you put the key to turn the car on was knocked out). There was also a dent and scratch on the passenger side that was done while the thief/vies had my car. But it's not that bad. It's still driveable, it runs just the way it was before it was stolen. So I'm happy. I just need to get it fixed.
During my spring break, there was a tv special of the program "Roots", a book about an African-American family written by Alex Haley. He was able to trace his family roots to the "African" that was brought from the continent all the way to his then-current American generation ( I beleive they were living in Tennessee then). Basically, the story (the movie does at least) narrates 4 generations of a family that derived from one ancestor from the Gambia and his offsprings through their story from slavery to freedom and all the challenges, struggles and pain they faced along the way. It's a story I beleive every African-American should read or at least see during their lifetime. It shows us where our people have come from and what they had to endure in order for their offsprings, we, to be able to have to freedom we have today.
Now ya'll know one of my interest is history/genealogy and African culture and history and this movie kind of blended both for me. All through out the week I was looking up ways to do a family tree and researching history about the slave trade and I came up with some interesting information.
I was looking up the history of slavery of my mother's caribbean island, St. Thomas, USVI and found numerous historians and articles that supported that at least 100,000 slaves between 1617 and 1807. Can you believe it? I was so excited to hear that. What it means to me is that possibly somewhere I have Ghanaian ancestory. As you already know, I served in the Peace Corps in Ghana from 2004-2006. I possibly could have had interactions with some of my ancestor's family. Ok, I know that may be far-fetched but while I was in Ghana, my host famiy actually looked a lot like me, lol. And others said that as well.
Wouldn't that be crazy? The funny thing is that while I was serving, I never thought of it as a home-coming experience that is common among African-Americans who travel to Africa. I saw it more as a learning experience and an opportunity to visit, live and learn the culture and customs of a tiny piece of a VAST continent, where I know my ancestors came from. And now to know that it's possible that my forefathers and foremothers may have come from there, makes me feel more of a connection with the country. I'll definitely have to share this info with my Ghanaian friends. They'll be excited, lol. I just wish I could trace my heritage back. I'm sure if that were possible, I'd find that they are from various parts of Africa, as people are always confusing me for an Ethiopian.
Ok guys, I hope you enjoyed. I'm going back to my new work of: study, study, study. Check in every now and then for new entries!
Until next time.
Posted by pennstatepeanut
at 1:38 PM EDT
