Knowing your roots

Many of us know Azumah Nelson, the famous world champion boxer, and Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, the former Chief Justice, but what many do not know is that they are descendants of the Tabom people; an Afro Brazilian group which returned to Ghana from Bahia in Brazil.

In the year 1836 some of the returnees arrived on the shores of Gold Coast after the Male Revolt of 1835 (a Muslim slave rebellion) in Bahia Brazil in a ship named SS Salisbury offered by the British government. They included Africans born on the continent and descendant of Africans who were yet to set foot on the continent.

After they settled in the then Gold Coast, the Brazil House was built at Brazil Lane in James Town, a suburb of Accra, to accommodate them. The  beautiful house, which faces the Atlantic Ocean, is set in the bright colours of yellow and green depicting the colours of the

Brazilian flag. Over the years, the house has been refurbished through funds provided by the Brazilian gov