Each year growing number of our African American brothers and sisters are reclaiming their Igbo heritage, thanks to the incredible DNA project by our sister Ada Naja Chinyere Njoku and her group. Chinyere has traced her heritage back to Ala Igbo, and several years ago was reunited  back with her Igbo family through an incredible and emotional ceremony in Virginia at the Igbo Village, undertaken and presided over by His Royal Highness  Eze Ènweleána II Obidiegwu Onyesoh of Ancient Nri Kingdom

This year at the ICOTTH USA Igbo Language Preservation and Cultural Festival, a joint partnership International Festival in collaboration with Africa Business World, scheduled in Maryland at the Prestigious Coppin State University in Baltimore, from August 5-7th,  Naja will be presenting all the African American brothers and sisters who through the Igbo DNA project have been tested and found to be of Igbo ancestry The candidates would be accepted and re-united with their Igbo ancestors.
This ceremony promises to be tears dropping and emotional and happy ceremony. As the old saying goes “blood is thicker than water” It is incredible what modern technology can do, and we salute Chinyere and her group for this technological breakthrough. Even after hundreds of years of separation between African American descendants here in the United States and their ancestors in Igboland, reunification has been made possible through technological innovation. Here is the message from Ada Naja Chinyere Njoku and her group.

I am Naja Chinyere Njoku .   I am the head of the DNA Tested African Descendants Organization.   We believe that knowing where we came from will provide the much needed foundation for reconciling with our homeland and people.   We are volunteer facilitators that currently support over 11,000 members from around that world that wish to know where they come from.  We  assist African Descendants in the process of learning their ancestry through DNA testing and genealogy (family tree building).  We provide the tools and resources needed, for someone considering DNA testing, to make an informed decision regarding which company to use and the way forward after receiving the ancestry results.  Each facilitator has DNA tested at Ancestry.com , 23andme.com , FtDNA.com and /or Africanancestry.com .

Many of us have traveled to our native lands after learning where we came from.  We understand that the initial communications with one’s ethnic groups of ancestry can be exciting and unnerving at the same time.  We also understand that first impressions are lasting ones so we coordinate reception and integration events for those that have learned their African ancestry.  This is how we dispel the many myths that have kept us separated from our brothers and sister back in Africa.  My direct communications with the Royals of various African ethnic groups afford us the opportunity to participate in multiple events. Some of them are introductions, cultural and language classes, naming ceremonies and other festivities .