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Ali and Helen
Salahuddin, Kwa David Whitaker, stand with
new land owners in the Eastern Region of Ghana, West
Africa
Viewing plans
with the Ghanain architect
Philadelphia,
PA (BlackNews.com) - In August 2005, the 20/20 Real
Estate Investment Group took a long awaited step toward
uniting two continents, Africa and America, when 25
returnees, Americans of African descent took part in
the ceremonial coming home march across the Volta River
in Ghana.
In this case, unlike the many civil rights marches of
old, there were no Bull Connors or sadistic dogs, or
venomous mobs, only the love and respect of reawakened
kinship. This group of black Americans represent the
first wave, the vanguard it is hoped of a planned emigration
of the descendants of American slaves back to the motherland
to develop their own version of the city on the hill.
The culmination of the August trip was the 2-day homecoming
to Ye Fa Ogyamu. In addition to the Crossing Over Ceremony,
the groundbreaking of the secondary and vocational school
complex, the group was treated to performances by local
artistic groups, shopping for indigenous crafts, arts
and clothing, and sampling of the local cuisine.
Fihankra International, a Ghana based non-governmental
organization (NGO), and the 20/20 Group, an African
American Real Estate Investment Group operating out
of the United States, are the driving force of this
unique initiative, a joint venture aimed at the expansion
of Fihankra by developing this 30,000 acres of land
in the Volta region of Ghana, West Africa into a state
of the art, self-sustaining community.
Fihankra, which translates they left without saying
goodbye, initiated this township development in 1997.
In one of the earth's most spectacular rolling mountain
ranges and virgin forests, the NGO has carved out the
beginnings of a full service community burgeoning with
potential. A major part of Fihankras mission is promoting
the cultural and economic reintegration of Africa by
its Diaspora. The establishment of this partnership
with the 20/20 Group is the next phase of that mission.
This monumental undertaking arises out of the historic
atonement ceremony held in December 1994 in Accra, Ghana
where representatives of Ghana's National House of Chiefs,
along with the Spiritual Head of the Godian Mission
of Nigeria, ceremonially opened the gateway to Africa
to the descendants of Africans born in the Diaspora
as a direct result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
This historic ceremony customarily referred to as The
Purification of the Stool and Skin of Fihankra consisted
of an apology for the participation of some chiefs of
the past who supported and profited from the slave trade.
The event was witnessed by the more than 3,000.
A large area of land was then set aside with the intent
to provide both a spiritual and customary home for Diasporan
Africans wishing to repatriate to Ghana. The portion
of land upon which the township is being constructed
is part of that larger land area. The township named
Ye Fa Ogyamu, means we have passed through fire and
reflects the trials of Africans of the Diaspora over
centuries of separation from their ancestral homeland.
This historic venture comes at a time when the world's
attention is being captured by events in and concern
for the Motherland as exemplified by the recent Live
8 Concerts and G8 Summit.
Each of the twenty-five 20/20 Group future homeowners,
for the price of an annual real estate tax, gets a 10,000
sq. ft. plot to develop into a home site for a planned
retirement, a vacation property or second home. These
home sites are to be part of a planned series of self-sustaining
eco-villages, a community of some 250,000 residents
that will boast an international school.
"The
school and other facilities will be developed upon the
dual foundation of respect for history and the application
of scientific knowledge in a creative and sustainable
environment," said Ali Salahuddin, founder of the 20/20
Group. Fully 30,000 acres of prime Volta River property
is being set-aside for this project that organizers
see as a 15-year 90 million dollar initiative.
In its own way the Ghanaian government is in the forefront
of a move by West African nations to atone for their
own complicity in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, which
brought the ancestors of these modern day Americans
across the seas and deposited them in circumstances
whose legacy we are still dealing with to this day.
With the launch of this project the union of cultural
reawakening and cooperative economic planning are welded
into a concrete form through which all African people
will benefit.
Its a win-win. Ghana gets the benefit of the expertise,
money and resources of these intrepid, African Americans
and these homesteaders get their own piece of the motherland
to develop as a legacy for future generations. Once
again the land of their ancestors is theirs to cherish
and revive.
The 20/20 Group was established by the dZert Club in
January 2000 as a limited partnership after the club
visited Ghana with 220 students, parents and adult group
leaders with the express purpose of investing in real
estate development projects in Africa.
To learn more about the d'Zert Club, please visit www.dzertclub.com
All those interested in employment, business and travel
opportunities or in acquiring land in this community
should call the 20/20 Group at 215-247-1545 or email
dzertclub@aol.com |
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