On March 24, 2005 Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, the Paramount Chief of Elmina Traditional Area (Ghana, West Africa) will visit FDA

Hail the Chief!!

Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, Paramount Chief of Elmina Traditional Area, will be coming to the Frederick Douglass Academy (Harlem, NY) on Thursday, March 24, 2005.  Upon his arrival, there will be a reception held from 9-9:30am.  Then an assembly will be held for students in the FDA auditorium, where African drummers and FDA students will perform. Afterwards, Chief Nana Kodwo Conduah VI will address the FDA staff, students, parents, and honorable guests.   How did this amazing event come about?  Frederick Douglass Academy is one of the best public schools in New York City.  The school provides a rich, vigorous and challenging academic curriculum that prepares our students to enter the college of their choice.    Young minds are prepared to function and succeed in a global society.  It is this international scope that eventually took us to Africa.

Recently, a group of 42 parents, students, grandparents and staff from the Frederick Douglass Academy visited London (England), Accra and Cape Coast in Ghana, West Africa.  In London, we visited the British Museum and saw African Art, including pieces from Egypt.  In Accra, we visited many interesting sites, including the University of Ghana-Legon and the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum.  In Cape Coast, we visited the Slave Castle Dungeons and established a partnership with the Edinaman Secondary School.  In Ghana, students and their families are responsible to pay for tuition and school uniforms.  A 7th grade student at FDA, Shantia Mckenzie, stated, “We take education for granted [in America]…Children in Ghana would do anything for an education.”  There is no public assistance.  Many of the students and parents work 16 hours a day, seven days a week.  Some parents barely earn enough money to send their children to school.  In the villages, we noticed that many of the children lacked basic necessities when they went to school.  Some children walk six to seven miles to the school each day.   

For those who were on this trip to Africa, their journey served as a life altering experience.  This journey was not merely a historical one but an emotional and truly educational experience.  To the many African-Americans that traveled to Ghana, the trip was one that served as a window into their ancestry. “I was going back to my motherland, all of mankind’s motherland,” said Tahswanna Davis, an 11th grade student at FDA.