This archive report was first published on 18 October 2019.
Kea Tiffani Simmons, a 37-year-old American woman, has found a new home in Kenya. She jetted into the country on Wednesday morning with a group of 30 African-Americans on a five-day safari in search of their African roots.
Simmons, who was born in South Carolina, has been coming to Kenya since 2012 and has already invested in property in Juja. She has taken up her new name, Akinyi, which means 'born in the morning' and reminds her of the good feeling of waking up without discrimination or profiling based on race.
According to Simmons, the Kenyan magic that attracts her is the warm and friendly people, the rainbow of cultures that blend seamlessly with Western values, and the rich history of the country. She states, 'The Maasai are the last Samurai.'
Simmons is already working on residency papers and plans to apply for Kenyan citizenship if successful. She says, 'I live in one of the most progressive cities in the US, but Nairobi is three times as much home as the city of North Carolina.'
On their itinerary before flying out on Sunday, the group will visit Mombasa, where they expect to get new Kenyan names from a team of Mijikenda elders. It is from here that ships laden with black slaves left for America's cotton and sugarcane farms more than 300 years ago.
