Freddie Pragnell, Gleaner Intern

Arnold Foote (second left) and his wife, Patricia, walk with locals in native dress, during a recent tour of Ghana. - Contributed

There is much division within a world of borders, diverse nationalities and race differences. Yet these realities are trivial in light of global fraternity. This was demonstrated by Arnold Foote as he visited Ghana in October this year. Foote suitably travelled under consular objectives, but his excursion soon became a personal venture which linked ancestral ties between Jamaicans and Ghanaians.

The World Federation of Consul travelled to Ghana to hold an African regional conference. Foote is the president. The federation travelled through various regions of Ghana where they were shown remnants of the transatlantic slave trade which riddled the continent. Of all the consuls, due to his Jamaican/African heritage, these remnants had greater significance to Foote, and he was unable to prevent himself from shedding tears during the tour.

Addressing Condua VI

After touring the Elima Castle, a Portuguese fortress which housed slaves before shipment, Foote gave an address to the Nana Kodwo Condua VI (a king of a region of Ghana) while at his palace. The address centred on a universal fraternity, obviously felt by Foote.

"The resistance and liberation struggles of enslaved Africans - beginning from the shores of Africa across the Atlantic to the Americas - convey wider meanings, past and present, as expressed in these words of a most distinguished African international personality, Amadou- Mathar M'Bow of Senegal in 1981: 'the resistance of slaves shipped to America, the constant and massive participation of the descendants of Africans in the struggles for the initial independence of America and in national liberation movements, are rightly perceived for what they were: vigorous assertions of identity, which helped forge the universal concept of mankind'."

King of ghana

The implied fraternity through the common ancestors of Ghana and Jamaica was furthered as Foote was named a king (Nana) in Ghana. The King of the Royal Assin Kingdom, Nana Barima Kwame Nki XII claimed Foote to be a descendent of the Royal Assin family and thus changed his name to Nana Kobina Manso. The union, in Foote's words, was truly reciprocated in the actions of the Nana Barima Kwame Nki XII. The trivialities of border are thus seemingly under attack by the fraternity demonstrated by members of both Ghana and Jamaica.