“Are you an Ashanti?” asked the teller at Ghana’s Kakum Rainforest Reserve. I had been doing a terrible job of blending in while in Ghana. There are different entry fees at many tourist attractions. The highest fees are reserved for foreigners. Ghanaians, students and children pay less. I had a brief flashback to my DNA test results, which traced 23 percent of my lineage to Ghana with Ashanti roots. I started to say “yes,” but I took too long. My guide answered for me. “No, she’s from the U.S.,” he replied. Writer Starrene Rhett-Rocque reflects on her heritage, the African diaspora, and the fascinating people she met on her first-ever trip to Ghana.
