By Samantha Simon
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In a poignant reconnection with their ancestral roots, 50 Antiguans and Barbudans are embarking on a historic journey to Ghana in early December, where many will walk the lands of their Ashanti ancestors for the first time.
The cultural exchange, spanning 14 days, will take participants through regions deeply connected to Caribbean history, including the Ashanti Kingdom in northern Ghana, from which many Antiguans are believed to descend.
“The Ashanti people are suggested to be the roots of people in Antigua and Barbuda, the ancestral roots. We are said to be of Ashanti background,” explained Franz de Freitas, who organised the trip after his own transformative experiences living in various African nations.
The journey will confront both the painful history of the transatlantic slave trade and celebrate the enduring cultural connections between West Africa and the Caribbean.
Participants will visit the notorious slave dungeons along Ghana’s coast, including the “Door of No Return,” the final portal through which millions of enslaved Africans passed before being shipped to the Caribbean and Americas.
“We will have a chance to stand in the doorway, the Door of No Return, and to experience what former slaves experienced while passing through those channels,” de Freitas said.
The trip also includes deeply personal cultural exchanges. In the Ashanti Kingdom, participants will receive traditional names through a ritual naming ceremony.
“In Ghana, in the Ashanti Kingdom, you’re not named what your mom or dad thinks you should be named. You’re named based on things that are unique and significant to you,” de Freitas explained.
Participants will discover striking similarities between Antiguan and Ghanaian culture, particularly in culinary traditions.
The group includes Antiguan-born chef Melvin Myers, who will facilitate cooking exchanges between the cultures.
“There will be a day that we spend with the Ashanti people that on stone we will be cooking our local dishes, they will be cooking their local dishes, then we will all sit and eat together,” said de Freitas.
Local historian Paddy Simon will document these cultural connections, helping to verify and contextualise the historical links between Antigua and Ghana.
“All of this contextual knowledge he has of Antigua will get a chance to verify and connect much of it,” de Freitas noted.
The journey bears particular significance for the group’s elderly participants, most of whom are over 60.
These elders carry with them generations of Antiguan cultural knowledge, which they will now be able to trace back to its African origins.
Beyond the historical significance, the exchange aims to forge new connections between the two regions.
Participants will meet with local business leaders and manufacturers, exploring opportunities to establish direct trade routes between Ghana and the Caribbean.
“African cloth that we get in Antigua comes through the United States, which makes it terribly expensive for us as end consumers,” de Freitas explained.
“Africa has vast wealth, it has excellent quality products. However, I think that we haven’t made a good enough attempt regionally to engage and link up with Africa,” de Freitas reflected, highlighting Ghana’s strong education system and manufacturing sector as areas for potential collaboration.
He is currently in discussions with Ghanaian manufacturers to create direct trade routes for textiles and other goods.
The trip represents more than tourism; it’s a reconnection of peoples separated by centuries and oceans, yet bound by enduring cultural ties. As de Freitas noted, “We are more similar as human beings than we are different.”
