American Girl Turns Out African Princess

Hi all. How would you feel if the truth comes out that you belong to a royal family? :P
In this world, everything is changing.

American girl shocked to discover that she's an african princess

Sarah Culberson, a 30-year-old American girl who is of mixed African-Caucasian parentage, was adopted just two days after her first birthday by a Caucasian family, and growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia.
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She’s often wondered what her birth parents looked like. Her journey of discovery began after she turned 22, when she decided to find out about her birth parents. She finally got her answer after she tracked her biological father down to Sierra Leone, Africa. And with that discovery came another surprise - she found out that she was a princess.

When she learned in 1999 that her Caucasian biological mum, who worked in administration at West Virginia University, had died of cancer about 12 years earlier, she was crushed. It wasn’t until after she moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue an acting career that she resumed the search for her birth father, hiring a private investigator to help her. She got a hit barely three hours after she hired him - an address in Maryland. Sarah Culberson sent a handwritten letter to the address, which turned out to be the home of her father’s brother. He, in turn, forwarded the letter to her birth father, Mr Joseph Konia Kposowa, who lives in the village of Bumpe in Sierra Leone.

Then came the phone call she was waiting for all her life. “I was a bit overwhelmed because I was still in the shock that I was actually speaking to my biological family for the first time,” she explained. Mr Kposowa explained that he met her birth mother in West Virginia, where he was a visiting college student. He apologised for not finding her first, and went on to tell her why he gave her up for adoption. After she was born, the couple agreed that they were too young and poor to care for her, so they gave her up.

Then came the bombshell. He revealed that he was a ruling member of the 36,000-member Mende Tribe in Bumpe, which made her a princess. “I had no idea what to do with that information, and I wondered, ‘What does that mean?” she said. She jumped at the opportunity, when her father invited her to visit him in Africa and meet the people of Bumpe. She took along her mentor and former acting coach, Mr John Woehrle, who offered to film her journey.

In December, 2004, Sarah Culberson landed in Lungi, Sierra Leone, where for the first time, she met her birth father in person at the airport.

She said, “At first, there was silence, he looked so vulnerable, and I realised that he was more afraid than I was.” “He was worried that I wouldn’t accept him in that moment. There were no words, just the look in his eye. I went up and gave him the biggest hug to let him know that everything is okay, and that I love him.”

Her father explained that the villagers dress the same when an honoured guest arrives, a gesture that shows the guest that she is not a visitor, but a new member of their community. Another emotional moment greeted her when she arrived in Bumpe the next day. As she pulled up in her father’s battered Land Rover, she saw hundreds of women coming over a hill, dressed in the same emerald African dress her father had given to her the day before. The women greeted her clapping and singing a song in Mende, the native language, they wrote to welcome their new princess home.

At the dinner to celebrate her homecoming, she was christened Bumpenya, Mende for ‘Lady of Bumpe’. “It was unbelievable. Amazing! An extraordinary gift and an honour, it was also terrifying because I had never had so much attention in my life from so many people,” she said.

And for the next few weeks, she learnt about the tragic history of her people. Bumpe had been ravaged by the bloody 11-year civil war that was raging in Sierra Leone, with rebel troops killing its villagers and destroying buildings.

But Sarah Culberson was particularly drawn to the rundown state of Bumpe High School, which was founded by her grandfather in 1963 and hosted about 500 students in its heyday. When the rebels left, its students were left without desks, books, supplies or even a roof over their heads. But despite their hardships, Miss Culberson said what touched her most was that the Bumpe people could still smile and laugh through it all.

She said: “I would think that people would need to go through therapy for years to deal with having their arms chopped off, or having their homes set on fire, or seeing a family member mutilated. But, these people have learned to keep going.”

Touched by her experiences in Bumpe, Sarah Culberson set up a non-profit organisation called the Kposowa Foundation when she returned to Los Angeles. With Mr Woehrle, she set up a website, www.bumpefund.org, as a channel to raise the US$200,000 ($320,000) needed for the rebuilding of the Bumpe High School. A documentary of her trip is also being made to help raise awareness for her cause.

Sarah Culberson said: “They’ve been enjoying it with me. My mum is on the board of the Kposowa Foundation and is heading a fundraiser in West Virginia this November. My dad is going with me to Africa this December to meet my biological father for the first time.”

She said: “Certain things that used to be important aren’t important anymore. My overall objective is to get the school rebuilt, start helping with the village, and to eventually have a medical care facility in Bumpe.” Sarah Culberson said that her adoptive parents, university lecturer Jim Culberson and special-education instructor Judy, have been extremely supportive of her new passion.

She added that her trip to Bumpe has also given her a new outlook in life.

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