You Are Invited

FINAL FUNERAL RITES

The Asanteman Association of Georgia Inc. and the Council of Ghanaian Traditional Rulers in Georgia cordially invite the entire community to the final funeral rites for the late

Dr. Charles Brown, (Nana Kwadwo Amoah I)(1947 – 2007)

whose sudden death occurred on Saturday, September 29th, 2007.

DATE: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 03,2007

VENUE: RICHJANE’S EVENT HALL, 6328 MABLETON PKWY, STE A, MABLETON , GA. 30126

TIME: 9:00 P.M. TO 4:00 A.M.

DIRECTIONS: From Northside: Go west bound on I-285; get on I-20 west bound. Exit @ 2^nd 6 Flags exit (Exit 46B);right on Six Flags Drive: Right at 1^st light (Factory Shoals Rd); Right at @ 2^nd Light (Mableton Pkwy): go 1 Block to RichJane’s on the right.

From Southside: Go north bound on I-285; get on I-20 west bound and follow directions above.

From Eastside and Downtown: Go west bound on I-20; get off 3^rd exit after I-285 @Six Flags Drive (Exit 46B) and follow above directions.

The Day My Dad (Dr. Charles S Brown) Changed My Life

3 professor brown

Originally uploaded by beninmwangi

People always ask me what inspired me to get so involved in Africa or how did I wind up wanting to promote the African continent as a business destination.

This is a question that I get fairly often. Most of the time people from the States and sometimes every now/then from people that I meet and know from Africa. It seems like the questions, behind the questions could be “why should it matter that there are business opportunities and successful entrepreneurs in Africa?” And “what do you know about Africa, anyway?” But, you know…my background’s not really in psychology or anything-thats just my take on these questions.

Anyway though, this post is my round-about attempt at answering both questions. So come on and let’s see if we can really just rap a tad and get to the bottom of it all. Be forewarned though, it’s a bit longish…

Now the year was September 1995, I was like a 3rd year sophomore at Morehouse College (I had just changed my major from engineering to economics). More importantly, my path seemed paved for the road of the entrepreneur. You see at 20 years old my partner and I had already started our own real estate biz. We weren’t making any real money yet, but everyday our Rolodex expanded. It really felt like the tipping point was right in front of us…And that’s when it happened-my father found out that he had been chosen as a Fulbright Scholar to teach physics at some university in Ghana, it was the University of Cape Coast, for like 17 months. He told me about it & and at the time, I had not bought into the idea yet. To my Dad’s credit, for the next one to two months he worked on me with subtle, yet persistent suggestions. Then he finally was like if you don’t go you might end up regretting it for a long time (Now my dad had a funny way of predicting things and almost all of his predictions came true). On top of this he dropped the bombshell on me, he said, “Ben if you don’t go, then I’m not going”. Now, I knew how much this trip meant to him, so that helped to change my mind.

Later on in life, I realized that’s that forever altered the course of my life; it’s the day that my father and I signed an unwritten or unspoken father and son agreement. Shortly after my decision was made I spoke to all of my professors and my student advisors to make sure that my student status would still be intact upon my return, which would be in a year. They assured me that not only would it be intact, but that since my father was going under the Fulbright Program, in essence I would be doing the same thing, plus on top of that since the University of Cape Coast had such a strong reputation, any classes that I took would count for the normal credit hours… This was October 95′-I think..

Oh, fast forward to November 95′…Since my dad and I were supposed to leave for Ghana towards the end of November my professors all agreed to let me take my finals a bit earlier. My recollection is that by the end of November everything was ready-my finals were complete, my father and I had taken our shots, physicals, passports, visas, then the going away party, and all that other good stuff.

 So now, all we had to do was to prepare our belongings for the long journey, that lay ahead. This took about another week, which worked out fine, because our departing flight was probably like that first week in December. Funny thing about it is even though it seemed like we had so much time and were so prepared on the day of the flight we were still running around in a nervous frenzy. Someone, who was helping us do like some final packing on the day of departure had noticed that there were a lot of opened packages in our luggages-you know like toothpaste, lip balm, hair pomade ( that was back when I had a full head of it). Our friend who just so happened to be a big international traveler, was like where do you think you’re going with these opened packages….we were like, to the flight! But what happened is that we had overlooked the fact that U.S. customs & didn’t allow those opened packages on international flights ( something to do with international security). Inside the back of my mind was, “all these times Dad went to Africa (my father loves Africa and always has), how can we not know that you can’t carry opened packages?” By the time we took care of it we were late for the flight. Matter of fact when we got to the gate the plane had already started pulling away from the terminal. We ran as fast as we could and the airline agent who was about to leave his podium somehow managed to stop the flight from leaving without us.

 

The flight itself was almost unbearable, from the time we left Atlanta until the time we arrived in Ghana was like 24 hours-granted we had a 6 hr layover in Amsterdam-which we maximized to the fullest. So by the time we arrived in Ghana we were so tired and dehydrated we didn’t know how we’d even make it off the plane. But we did make it off

What started out for me as just a one year study abroad tour in Africa, quickly progressed into one of the greatest bonding experiences that a father and son could have -Dad you were right again. And that was just the beginning.

Dr. Charles S. Brown in Ghananian Village

dad in village

Originally uploaded by beninmwangi

This picture was taken when my Dad and I were in Ghana. We had the opportunity of a lifetime when a friend of ours, Awauni (seated next to my dad) offered to take us to his village “up north”.

The trip there, by car, was a real adventure. But the bonding that he, Nita (my second mom), and myself were able to do was incredible.

When you see my Dad seated there on top of the “main house” of this village compound, notice how happy he looked. This is how my dad was. He was as comfortable in an African village- as he was shaking hands with three African Head’s of State (Ghana’s Rawlings, Botswana’s Festus Mogae, Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali). He was also at home in the academic and corporate worlds. And when I was a student at Morehouse College, we’d sometimes go for walks around the campus (which at the time had a low income inner city feel to it) and the way that my Dad would talk to the residents of the area, it was like he was one of the residents.

I think my brother, Dr. Daryl Brown summed it up nicely

“in Dad’s hometown of Boston, Mass he was known as Charlie, to the brothers around the way he was known as “Doc”, in academia he was known as Dr. Brown, in Ghana he was known as the Prof or as Nana, and to us he is affectionately known as “Dad”.

Photo Courtesy of: Wikipedia 

Dr. Charles S. Brown in Photo

My creation

Originally uploaded by beninmwangi

These are a few pictures of my father. I’ll be sharing more later.

Nana Kwodo Amoa I (August 5, 1947-September 29, 2007)

 

Nana Kwodo Amoa I, originally uploaded by beninmwangi.

 

Dr. Charles S. Brown

Dr. Charles S. Brown grew up at a pivotal time for Black America. As a young student at Morehouse College he was able to witness and be a part of America’s civil rights movement. After reading books written by Dr. W.E.B. Dubois and Kwame Nkrumah Dr. Brown began to become exposed to a wider perspective. Afterwards, he gradually gained an appreciation for African history. Over time this appreciation would continue to grow and less than ten years after obtaining his PhD in physics he began to research ancient African civilizations. His study was so intense that over a three year time span, he became an authority on the subject.

For Dr. Brown, learning about ancient African civilizations meant more than just being able to quote a few abstract facts, he believed that if he could help African American youth become aware of their true heritage it would be easier for them to dream big. Integrating scientific finds on these ancient civilizations into mathematics or physics curricula for his university classes would later become one of Dr. Brown’s most recognizable hallmarks.

But the event that would later shape his outlook on modern Africa continent took place when he attended the First Edward Bouchet International Conference on Physics and Technology on June 11, 1988 in Trieste, Italy. The Edward Bouchet Institute is today called the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salaam Institute. One of its aims is to foster scientific and technical collaborations between African and American scientists and engineers. Prof Charles S .Brown’s first trip to the African continent occurred in 1990 when he attended the second Edward Bouchet Institute Conference in Ghana. It is through the Edward Bouchet Institute that Professor Brown met the internationally renowned Professor Francis K. Allotey. In the fall of 1991, Prof. F. K. A. Allotey of Ghana visited with Prof. Charles S. Brown, who at that time was the Chairman of the Physics Department at Clark Atlanta University (CAU). The collaboration between Prof. Allotey, Prof. A. E. Bak, and Prof. C. S. Brown resulted in two published papers.

Prof. Allotey, four years later arranged the visit of Prof. Charles S. Brown to Cape Coast, Ghana, where he worked as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar (December 1995 – May 1996) and an ICTP Visiting Scholar (June 1996 – December 1996). Prof. Brown helped to develop the University’s graduate curriculum, served as a research advisor for a physics doctoral candidate, and collaborated on a research paper with Prof. S. Y. Mensah, Chairman of the Physics Department and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University. The work that Prof. Brown did in Ghana did not go unnoticed; in fact it was instrumental in his enstoolment as a traditional ruler in the Assin Manso district of Ghana.

To elders and other traditional rulers in this district Prof. Brown was known as Nana Kwodo Amoah I. It is a role that he took very seriously, even until his passing.

I love you Dad. I know you are in a better place.