december 27, 2006 - january 2,2007

i was truely transformed by my trip home. i felt a renewed sense of purpose. to know that my family had maintained such a deep sense of love and faith that some how we would be re-united was a testament to true faith and the power of unwavering intention. i had a strong desire all my life to meet and know the family i knew i had. likewise my family in sierra leone never gave up on speaking my name and sending me the love and light that guided me safely to them.

the remainder of my time remained varied; magical and at times practical. i was able to pay my respect and offer my prayers at my uncle soloman's grave. it is his wife anne and their daughter's yeniva and tiana that made this experience even more sentimental. our family's had been close friends for many years. after my father's death communication was lost for over 15 years.

in august of 2006 my mother went to california to visit friends and family because she currently lives in georgia. during my mother's brief stay her path crossed with anne who first recognized my mother!! the day my mother called me in japan to say "guess who i saw while in california..."
was the day my trip became a reality.

homecoming- december 26, 2006

jangay nya was the beautiful name given to me by yet another loving part of the extended family of aunts and uncles in africa. uncle john explained to me that jangay was the traditional name for mattru jong and nya meant woman. i became known as the "woman from mattru jong" or more affectionately "jangay nya".

the journey home was surreal. we woke up around 5am and were on the road soon after. duraman met us at the house with his pastor, his brother muefau and a trusted friend and driver. we were all sleepy but my excitement was definately growing !!

we travelled in a SUV with 4 people in the back seat. i willingly sat on the edge of the seat (which gave more room for the other 3 people) because i was too excited to be sleepy or uncomfortable.

the streets were clear and we made excellent timing thanks to uncle mohamed who was a wonderfully experienced driver when it came to driving distances in on and off road!! the scenery along the way was exceptional in its simplicity and beauty. we drove past villages on either side of the road. the villages actually looked like living paintings. sierra leone is a very lush country at times we would see a beautiful calm lake surrounded by green foliage. other times we saw area children bathing or washing clothes in the area waterways.

once we made it to mattru we walked the last few hundred feet to my uncle's home. i was met on the road by familiar and new faces, but all were emotional and welcoming. i was so thankful for the thoughtfulness of everyone i travelled with. immediately tiana, samantha and niva took responsibilty for my camera and capturing this amazing moment not only for my family and me but for future generations as well.

there was a wonderful program in which the family introduced themselves to me and shared stories of my father as a little boy and young man growing up in sierra leone. i was given the opportunity to show how much i loved and missed everyone and how blessed i felt to be re-united with such a wonderful and loving family.

i was honored with a beautiful and hand woven gift of black and white country cloth which duraman had made into an even more amazing outfit. the day was hot, long, emotionally draining and the most wonderful experience of my life to date !!

december 20- 25

wednesday the 20th

we all went to victoria park in freetown for the ujima parade with the music artists to promote the event of the 4 day carnival. the procession drove from 7-10pm with a great p.a. system and music that got everyone on the street excited and curious!! the first stop was to the stadium and from there on to silver wings entertainment complex at lumely beach where the festivities would be held.

thursday the 21st

went to the nearby internet cafe and emailed my family and friends about how my trip was going. yeniva knew a man named tamba who could film my homecoming to mattru and that was truely the highlight of the day. duraman came by the house twice to help me with the arrangement of my trip to mattru which was going to be on the day after christmas. my uncle ali came by the house with some of his beautiful batik creations.

friday the 22nd

more visits from my cousin duraman and uncle abubakar

saturday the 23rd

i purchased some of my uncle ali's batiks as gifts, put a deposit on for the video production of my trip to mattru and enjoyed the life concert of khady black, j.r. and jr kabbah at silver wings.

sunday the 24th

we went to the gorgeous beach of lakka.

monday the 25th

was the sunniest and hottest christmas i have ever had and i loved it !! i got my hair braided by nana for the big day of meeting my family. uncle ali brought a textbook published by macmillan for afrian schools that had pictures of him in his outdoor workshop. batik was in the chapter called "indigenous technology". it was wonderful to see my uncle's craftsmanship and technique modeled in a book and for this artform to be recognized as a form of technology.

december 19, 2006

tuesday
freetown

3pm
the ujima press national conference was an opportunity for the press and members of the community to meet the event organizers yeniva and david as well as the sierra leone born and international recording artists giving back to the country and people they love.

4pm

my cousin duraman went with me to visit the japan international cooperation agency (jica) in freetown. i had learned about the organization at an international ngo fair in tokyo and have been very interested in learning how i can combine my current life and understanding of japan to benefit my homeland. megumi and akio were both very helpful and we are working on some possible collaborations in the near future !!

7pm

i met my aunt memuna along with my father's cousins allieu and abubakar with my cousins duraman and muefau. i was astonised to learn that my aunt memuna and uncles ali and abubakar had just had a conversation about my whereabouts and if they would ever see me just 2 1/2 weeks before my arrival in freetown!!

december 18,2006

monday

kent beach and freetown

today turned out to be a very eventful day. yeniva's friend drove tiana, samantha and me to kent for a beach party. i was seperated from the group and got the chance to experience some of the traditional customs of sierra leone.

later that evening i was able to meet my cousin duraman conateh and my father's cousin abubakar kanneh. what an exciting, tearful and joyful reunion !!!

in 5 minutes 35 years worth of question marks were answered. in prepartion for my trip i made photo albums of pictures from my father's life in america as well as pictures of my mother, brother and myself. my cousin and uncle were so pleased that i could in turn answer questions they had in a matter of minutes as well. soon we were sharing more details and learning more about each other than anyone of us could have dreamed to learn in a life time !!

my family had grown exponentially. in a matter of minutes i know had an uncle and aunt, 13 cousins and an additional 4 more uncles on the kanneh side and more cousins. i later learned that the conateh and kanneh family's have been and continue to be strongly connected.

december 16,2006

saturday
freetown

my first morning in my father’s country!!! i am in africa !!! every morning i woke up in stages but always with a smile in my spirit. gratitude to anne and her family for facilitating my journey and supporting me during this time. anticipation regarding my family that i was going to meet soon. love for my parents who raised me to be an independent thinker and to trust that i would always be provided what i needed or the inspiration to create it!!!

the 1st stage was the rooster crowing in what i initially thought was themiddle of the night and gradually grew to accept that it was actually pre-dawn. soon after I became aware of the muslim morning prayers from a nearby mosque. i am not sure where the mosque was located but I assumed it was some distance from the house, but because it was so early and solemnly quiet, sound -especially prayers, made it’s way to my receptive ears.

the first day we took care of some errands; exchanging usd for sll, stopping by the hair store and visiting lumely beach.

while driving around town , i was able to get my first un-biased glimpse of sierra leone. prior to coming all the pictures on the internet show amputees, desperation and poverty and understandably so after a brutal 12 year civil war. unfortunately the pictures forget to show the strength of the average sierra leonen in persevering for a better life, the intelligence and light emanating from the children and the fact that freetown is a city with an infrastructure, public facilities, and businesses. granted electiricty is still sporadic and unavailable in the evenings for most areas and garbage pick up is still a concern but evidently much improved recently from what i was told. we were fortunate to celebrate with the rest of freetown residents when street lights in the evening hours were restored for the first time in over 20 years !!

needless to say not having all the modern conveniences of other countries is not a crime and does not make for a destitiute country. i saw 5 star hotels near the beach, a university near the british council, functioning government offices, busiensses, restaurants and several internet cafes. i share this so that others can have a more balanced viewed of a country in the long process of rebuilding. i am sure some may feel my view is overly optimistic and perhaps it will be tempered with time, but i also believe that our realities are a reflection of our beliefs.

while driving around town I was able to see offices for the following ngo's:
unhcr, msf, christian aid, africare, action aid, unicef, and soka gokkei international. that does not include the countless individuals and organizations who are quietly and consistently working to improve the lives of sierra leonens every day like ujima and others.

i was surprised to count at least 5 internet cafes located through out the city. easily accessible information is critical to not only nation building but in advancing the opportunities of its citizens. i also noticed the following countries had some sort of presence within sierra leone:
china (chamber of commerce and china town) germany, lebanon, ghana, japan. i am sure not all are there for altruistic purposes.

that night we had dinner at “checkpoint” at the beach and I had a delicious mackeral entrée.

daughter born in a foreign land

my name is francesca conaté and I was the first child of two for karen and hadie conaté. my brother raymond is living in california with his son amani. i also have a younger sister named techell from my mother’s second marriage.

my mother is african- american and 5th generation californian. my father, the youngest of three children, was born and raised in mattru jong, sierra leone. my father died on october 1, 1984 and time did not provide the opportunity for him to reveal the rich history of our conateh (as spelled by my family in sierra leone) heritage.

mattru jong always had a mythical ring to it because my subconscious had stored the memory of this name but i had no images or information of family or life there to support the fact that this was a tangible location.


the trip i embarked on from december 15 – january 2, 2007 was to re-connect with my historic and proud mandingo lineage originating from my grandfather abubakar conateh who migrated from mali to sierra leone. it was also to re-discover the african pride that my grandmother musu kanneh bestowed in me as she was the daughter of the paramount chief of mattru jong.

this trip was 35 years in the making because the day i was born it was written that i would make this life elevating and joyous pilgrimage home. true to the spirit of my grandfather and father, my trip required me to cross great distances to realize the 1st step towards my destiny. my grandfather went from mali to sierra leone as a businessman. my father decided to relocate from sierra leone to america, stopping first in new york before settling in california.

i have always enjoyed traveling and have visited 10 countries, the majority of which i traveled alone. i currently live in tokyo japan and in order to fulfill this part of my destiny it required me to fly from tokyo, japan to atlanta, georgia in america to visit my family; london, england for a connecting flight to freetown, sierra leone and a 6 hour car ride to mattru jong!!

the following blog re-counts some of the high-lights of my journey home…