people for information. want to express. facebook and twitter today in touch. this is news africa coming up in the next 15 minutes on the link to the resilience u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi addressed the gunny in parliament today her visit marks 400 years since the 1st shipment to america. and the men who bear the scars 25 years off to run this genocide victims and perpetrators are going through the healing process.

i'm christine wonderwall come to news africa. africans on both sides of the atlantic ocean are remembering the the slave trade ceremonies are taking place in the u.s. and in ghana scepter so. a delegation from the u.s. house of representatives is in ghana for the departure point or other the departure point for millions of africans a bound for the americas. nancy pelosi the 1st house speaker to address gun us parliament 400 years after the 1st africans were taken across the atlantic into slavery the 400th anniversary of the 1st slave person to set foot on america from africa right now today july 31st 2009 we very appropriate that we're here with you

members of the congressional black caucus to get there are always nancy pelosi visited mina in cape coast castle there's a sleeves would go through the door of no return. for congresswoman karen bass this visit is crucial. to our ancestors before they left here and in our treacherous journey to the united states in which they begin. 200. years of conflict. congresswomen men wash their hands was water from the rivers a slave lost before being taken to america. speaker pelosi said the visit was a transformative experience that had touched this solves. my next guest wasn't in parliament as pelosi was speaking today because he's days as an n.p.r.

over mystical joe he is also an author welcome to the deputy africa mystery and a year in the city off cape coast launching your boat from jamestown to jamestown losses to an african child what is the book about and why did you write it well the book was already. struck their love up for all the fire started were captured from the concept of our success. doctor. in the fall for the car full of prague dreams of plastic. a picture of the americas and the caribbean right and yeah i was proud go over there for all those shows dr and why did you write the book. i wrote the book for a couple of reasons one is that 3 you know we now school we always busy talk about after because it's all the hoppers these 3 syllables of what are helping me fall

foul of being really hated of us. i'd be sort of stewards busy of research and find out exactly why we say that there was and the africans that i was the issue at that civilization began to not forget and that the origin of august in africa i needed to get all the information out and which is out there for you for about the subject that you do write an essay and babies are actually because we don't have all that much time but i wanted to ask you when you are now in cape coast some of the u.s. and congress members where there is well what is the significance off that city cape because you have good cause to anyone see where the most of the lives of are where taken outside of so we've become a symbol by the fact that there are a lot of things in the south was because of our progress of course surviving that

represent that we have brownsville. georgia your people busy were taken out of the concert that devastated ok and so missy and co we really appreciate you coming on we're looking forward to having you here now studio to talk more about the book you've written called you young colts and for me n.p.n. gone escape codes thank you thank you. not gonna has say so they give off returned to mark the anniversary the government is billing it as quote a major landmark spiritual and birthright journey and an invitation to the global african family to come to ghana they'd only africa made one young american who came home. 26 year old ivory coast on his colleagues i getting ready for the day for the next 2 months the student is volunteering at this school to help children with all to same piece of motivation is to understand what

these kids have to go through and also to give back to kenya to sightsee. almost 2000 africans in the diaspora who have visited ghana this year plus parts of the year of return programs to mark 400 years since i africans way taking our cross the atlantic slaves i do decide as a volunteer here because i felt as though this would be the best way to integrate myself with the culture as well as the community in guyana and working with students here and serving it was it was a good way for me to basically express love in the form of service express love in the form of giving back but also learning about the african culture and how to remove myself in that african culture. shuffles in that james 4 to prison in

a crowded place lives where kids being shipped across the atlantic saved as memorials to the burial ground of one increment upon african icon is also a key site for other african americans who are in spite of by increment and a struggle to end. in ghana. really really really grateful and happy to be here to experience the the year for terror activities and be able to reconnect with my ancestors who have gone on before me and i choose to call them now they are enslaved forefathers they were taken without their consent but we are the children have returned and we see where our forefathers came from and i'm so country to be here. it's been celebrated as the. series of programs across the country.

for the. african. out of the over $64.00. africa. trade the process of championing this call for people to. come on the. street and celebrate the story of resilience like the african american. has struck a connection with the country and its people hopefully. with memories. from the good memories to the bad memories rhonda is a country still deeply scarred by the genocide 25 years ago nearly all of the killers in the 1994 men many have served time in prison but now want to heal

themselves and their communities our correspondent. has been to the city of. london there she met some of those struggling to come to terms with the past. today these men sit side by side in community based social to share their experiences during. the 1900. 25 years ago when up to a 1000000 tutsis a moderate hutus were wiped out in just 100 days it would divide it among those who carried out the killings and those who survived it. memories of being on the run and how his pregnant wife had to give birth and hiding it. when we couldn't find a way that the baby would survive being with us but i still have friends who i was doing business with they helped me and they took my newborn at night to a woman who run an orphanage at. the baby stage but

a few days later the perpetrators went to look for him they took my baby and killed him. i've done their lives a peaceful life but his wife. but he struggles with the guilt of not being able to protect the 12 members of his family who were killed during the genocide similarly former released perpetrators give at least to have served their sentence are still haunted by what they call the shame of their past he says he's guilty of killing 4 people including to members of his own family. came to realize that i can't escape my judgment i accepted it and went to ask my father in law for forgiveness it was too much to handle the fact that i had killed my mother in law i was in so much pain. many of the men returning from prison have struggled they found their families estranged their role as the head of the household challenged in the image of their very own masculinity destroyed. they say these feelings

however cannot be talked about in public. and always has to be strong a man has to suffocate his pain and behave like a man. the way i see it a man should also show his emotions in rwandan culture i can accept it in public. a man needs to overcome his pain. and swell a bit he is that's a local problem here in rwanda which reflect the dangerous side men are expected to deal with their pain and grief alone.