tavis: in 2008, peggy bartels got a phone call that she had to think was a prank. her cousin called to say that her uncle, the king of a small village, had passed away and that she had been chosen as the new king. weeks later, she began her new duties only to find a litany of problems and political realities. she continues in her role as a secretary and travels frequently to ghana. the new book about this story is called king peggy: an american secretary, her royal destiny, and the inspiring story of how she changed an african village." king peggy and honor to have you on this program. let me start by saying i have been to 16 african countries. the first one i went to, and it is still the one i regard as having the friendliest people, ghana. i am sure i will get hate mail for that. but to the people are the nicest people. >> they are really beautiful people inside and out. we always welcome people to our country. we are humble people. we love people to come visit. tavis: i love going back as often as i can. i have not been to otuam. now that i have the hook up know

with us peggielene bartels, co-author of the book "king peggy."ican village. very good to have you. she said call her peggy, so i can call her peggy or nana you said, yes. >> but you are king peggy and let's let this story breathe and start at the beginning. bring us back to when you were working as a secretary and living in a one-bedroom apartment and driving a honda. >> well, in 1997 i had a call that changed my life. you know, it was about 4:00 in the morning and i had a call, you know, from ghana. at first i was a little confused, i thought it was my brother. then i realized it was from my cousin. he said nana. and i said nana? that is someone that is a king or a queen or has children and i don't have any of them. i'm childless. i don't have any child so i was surprised at first. i thought it was a prank. i told him, i said, if you don't hang up, i'm going to hang up. >> so what did he tell you? >> he said, nana, your uncle is going to a village and he's not coming back any time soon. when a king passes on, they don't say the king is dead, the