Thursday, October 15, 2009

Following King Prempeh's trail - Part 1

Most Ghanaian do know the history of King Prempeh and his exile to the Seychelles so coming to the islands with a group of Ghanaians certainly meant that we were going to follow the trail. Better still we had in our midst two Ashantis and direct orders from the Seychelles consulate - a member of our Rotary Club - to do some fact finding. And fact finding we did!

We had to do a bit of leg work - literally! but luckily with a total population of only eighty five thousand, and the smallest geographical capital in the world, it wasn't as bad as we feared. We started asking almost as soon as we were off the plane, and grilled the hotel staff at breakfast the next morning. Venturing into town to see the sights we soon found other links, and finally a telephone number and address. We actually spent the day on Tuesday with his grand-daughter, Terraine, one of the two remaining grand-children living here in the Seychelles.

Coincidentally, we visited her almost some sixteen or so years after the visit of the then President Rawlings.

Sadly, she had never been to Ghana - despite promises from so many others that had visited before. Is seldom in touch with the relatives who went back with King Prempeh, and while she did seem proud that she was descended from royalty, seemed to be unable to connect it back to the excitement the group displayed. Over the next couple of days will try and share some of what I have learnt - and am hoping that the video I did is in '
postable' condition. Will also tell you about King Prempeh's house, and the grave of Yaa Ansantewa.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! I'll be looking forward to it!

The Author said...

Yes, pretty cool. This, I have to see!

Myne said...

It's interesting how some would easily forget history. I'll look forward to the conclusion.

Nice blog.

posekyere said...

Interesting, Denise.
Documentary film, perhaps? You certainly love history and travelling- the perfect combination.
Can't wait to see what comes out. Nothing could be more interesting than King Prempeh's house and Yaa Ansantewa's grave.
I wish Asanteman council could help to preserve these historic places in the Seychelles.

Femme Lounge said...

sounds like you had a great adventure. looking forward to reading and learning more about it.