Walk past Adinkra Cultural Arts Studio in downtown Mount Rainier at any given time, and you’re likely to hear the rhythmic sounds of African drumming.
Founded in 2010 and named for the symbols common on Ghanaian fabrics and pottery, the family-run studio promotes African heritage through classes on drumming and dancing, concerts, art galleries, and even programs on subjects like the art of waistbeads and healthy hair care. It’s a cultural and artistic hub in the heart of the Gateway Arts District in Mount Rainier, offering a variety of activities and programs for both the young and old.
Since 2016, its president and CEO, Diallo Sumbry, has gone even further to help connect people with African culture and history, organizing group trips to Ghana, Senegal and South Africa as part of a separate initiative called Birthright Journeys.
The tours include visits to historic sites, live music performances and educational service projects. Participants are also offered the opportunity to take a DNA test through AfricanAncestry.com and get their results as part of a group reveal while on the trip.
The goal is to help reforge the links that were broken by the brutality of the transatlantic slave trade, which permanently separated parents and children, destroyed the economy of West Africa and led to the deaths of 15 to 25 percent of the enslaved people en route to the Americas.
These kinds of trips can be quite moving and powerful, one reason why a U.S. nonprofit sends many Jewish Americans to Israel and the Irish government ran a pilot program along similar lines. For a number of years, Ghana has sought to reclaim the energy and attention of the African-American diaspora through similar cultural and historical tourism.
The tours, which include airfare, lodging, ground transportation and food, are meant to be accessible to anyone who wants to go. Birthright Journeys allows participants to put a down payment of $500 and pay off the trip through a payment plan over the course of 10 months. They also help with fundraising and grants to soften the cost. And through a partnership with South African Airways, Adinkra gives away two round-trip tickets to Africa at its annual Birthright Concert, which takes place this Saturday, August 18, at the University of the District of Columbia.
The tours, which are conducted through a partnership with the Ghana Tourism Authority, are also the subject of a documentary slated to come out later this year.
