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Dr Gina Paige, president and co-founder of the African Ancestry at her booth at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village 2025 at Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on July 30. - Photos by Faith AyoungAFRICAN history does not begin with slavery – and neither does the ancestry of its people and their descendants.
The ancestors of Africans were real people with real stories before they were kidnapped from their homeland and stripped of their humanity for centuries through slavery. So to help African people in TT reclaim their heritage, US-based company African Ancestry brought its business to Emancipation Village from July 27-August 1.
And while its representatives’ time here was brief, they are thrilled to have introduced it to yet another country.
The 100 per cent black-owned company was created in 2003 by Dr Rick Kittles and Dr Gina Paige. On its website, it says the founders are the “pioneers of genetic ancestry tracing for black people globally.” It boasts of reconnecting black people to their African roots.
“Our scientists compare your DNA markers to the largest African reference database in the world in order to find your African origin up to 2,000 years ago.”
In an interview with Newsday on July 31, Paige said it was her first time visiting TT and she has been enjoying it.
“We are working with sister Zakiya (Uzoma-Wadada) (head) of the Emancipation Support Committee to bring African ancestry here to expose the people of this country to the possibilities of tracing that.”
She said a lot of people showed interest in doing the tests, and many did them right at the booth.
She outlined the process. Typically, it is best if the person does not consume alcohol or caffeine, or use mouthwash for at least three hours prior to taking the test.
“You can either trace your paternal lineage or maternal lineage. So you decide that, purchase a kit for US$299 (TT$2,100)…Inside the kits are swabs and you just gently rub them inside your cheeks for a bit and then that’s it. You put it in the envelope, seal it and hand it back to us.”
Only one person per family needs to take the test as it gives results for “the entire family line,” she added.
“So my mother did it, and my cousins, aunts and uncles, etc did not have to.”
African Ancestry kits on display her at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village 2025 at Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on July 30.
Results typically take about six weeks to be provided once the swabs reach the lab.
“You also will have to activate your test kit online, so you create an account in the portal and at that point you'll be able to track the status of your swabs and how soon the results will be available, and then you can receive your results online.”
She also wanted potential customers to know that, unlike some genealogy companies, they do not sell or share people’s results.
“Our DNA be handled with respect and integrity. So once we get your result, the lab destroys all of the DNA. It's not kept or researched.”
She said some people in TT actually asked: Why should I care about my genealogy?
She believes it is “critical” to know where you come from, and referenced Uzoma-Wadada who said it is a part of one’s self-journey.
“Our ancestors were stolen from the continent. They lost everything that identifies who they are, who they were. They were the victims of identity theft. They lost their names, their languages, their freedom to honour their ancestors, and their families were torn apart consistently, constantly for 400 years and…We are walking around with a void.”
She continued, “What we learn about our history is that we come from slavery; from people who were enslaved, and that's not our truth. Yes, it's slavery happened along the historical continuum of who we are as people but before that, we came from healers and farmers and scientists and scholars and kings and queens and warriors. We come from people who created everything.”
And focusing on that, she said, is much more empowering than accepting the idea that African history began with slavery.
When she did the test, her paternal lineage was linked to the Hausa tribe in Nigeria.
“The Hausa women are the business people of that culture, and I come from a long line of business owners on my father's side. So you can only imagine when I got that information how I got chills.
“I knew my family was full of entrepreneurs but I didn't know that that was our legacy as the descendants of Hausa people so it hits very close to home for me, personally, having the knowledge having travelled through Africa, and being able to meet people from these ethnic groups gives me a sense of pride and belonging.”
She added that her maternal lineage also links to Nigeria, but to the Fulani people.
She said young people, especially, should be interested in learning about their family’s history.
“We want every black person, every person of African descent to be able to make their own tangible reconnection to Africa, so that that's part of why we came here.”
Those interested in tracing their lineage through the company can visit africanancestry.com.
English (US) ·