Q&A with Dorrie Manu, Canadian-turned-Ghanaian-royalty

A British Columbian woman is now queen mother of a 6,000-member tribe in Ghana.

“I’m seen as a mentor and role model to other mothers, daughters and sisters in the tribe,” Dorrie Manu of Langley tells Yahoo Canada News. “And my goal is to really help develop and build up the women in the community.”

Manu is assuming the position after her husband, Eric Manu, recently became chief of the tribe following the 2013 death of his uncle. It’s a process that has taken several years due to the time needed to pay respects to the previous chief, the elders deciding if they’d like the heir next in line (typically the oldest male on the mother’s side of the family) to become leader and the coronation ceremony.

Eric’s new role requires him to act as an intermediary between the tribe and the government, help decide local cases and develop the community.

Although she has lived in Canada for much of her life, Dorrie Manu already has ties to Ghana through FODACH, an NGO she started with her husband soon after their marriage and through her work at Power to Change Ministries.

Manu’s new role as queen mother gives her another way to help Ghana, and she plans to take the role seriously.

“I want to have the title with a sense of weightiness that I am contributing or doing something for the tribe,” Manu says.

The Manus are now trying to decide if they can make the move to Ghana full-time instead of travelling between Langley and the tribe in Adansi Aboabo2 in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The decision is something they had to put on hold partly because of their 10-month-old son, Kweku, who needs to be vaccinated for yellow fever, and that their new positions don’t pay.

Yahoo Canada News spoke with Manu about her journey from meeting her husband in January 2010 to becoming Ghanaian royalty and what the future may hold.

Q: How did you meet your husband?

I was doing a doctoral class in Ghana, and Eric used to work for the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, which encompassed doing different tours of the Cape Coast Castle. Eric hosted our class, and he walked us through the history of the slave trade and then talked about the economic impact on Ghana. During the tour, we had a chance to talk, we carried on communication afterwards and things went from there.

Q: When did you get married?

We got married in August of 2010. We were debating having [the wedding] in Canada or Ghana. It’s more difficult for Eric to come this way without permanent residence status, so I went out to Ghana, and we got married there over a three-day celebration period.

Eric, of course, being Ghanaian, he was more accustomed to the style of celebrating. For me, being the first time that I experienced a Ghanaian wedding, I felt both like the bride as well as sort of a newbie.

Q: When did you know that there was a possibility that Eric might become royalty?

We actually knew that after we had gotten engaged. We would often joke that we would move to Ghana upon retirement, and that’s when he would assume the chiefdom. We didn’t anticipate it within the next few years because everything is passed on through the matriarchal line on Eric’s side of the family.

After Eric’s uncle, Eric was the next in line, so we knew that was a possibility, but our uncle at the time was just in his 50s and doing very well health-wise. We didn’t anticipate that we would lose him so prematurely. When he passed away, it suddenly brought all the possibility and leadership onto Eric’s shoulder’s a lot earlier than we had anticipated.

Q: How did you feel when you got the news that Eric’s uncle passed away and that Eric was next in line to be chief?

Eric and I really mirrored each other emotionally on this. We got the news of Eric’s uncle passing away, I think our spirit and our hearts were so heavy because there was just such a grief and sadness of losing our uncle and losing someone who to Eric was a father figure and a real mentor in his life. It felt like the wind got knocked out from us, and we just needed to take that time to grieve and also take action because we realized that Eric needed to go back.

I don’t think we thought much of Eric stepping into the chiefdom role until we had the time emotionally to grieve his uncle’s passing. From that time, we realized that he was in line for the chiefdom, and there needed to be the process of deliberation of whether he would be backed and accepted as chief. When we did get the call from his other uncle saying yes, he had been chosen, both of us felt the same thing. We were very excited like wow, this is really happening. We also had that sense of nervousness, and like wow, this is going to change a lot of things.

Q: What are you looking forward to the most as queen mother?

One of the things that really gets me excited is seeing transformation and change that is really healthy and good. I’m looking forward to standing alongside Eric in this role that he is excited about and helping along the women of the tribe.

I really enjoy doing coaching and mentoring, so I’m looking forward to being with the women, walking alongside them in their lives, seeking to support them, helping them realize their dreams and giving them a brighter view of the future as well.

Q: How supportive have your family and friends in Canada been?

They have been fabulously supportive. I think my family and friends that know me well have loved the fact that I have the title of queen mother. They think it’s quite novel, and it actually makes them smile and chuckle because they’re like “I know a queen.”

Q: Do you think you’ll write about your experience?

I’m someone who loves to journal. I normally do journal throughout the year just about different life experiences and different thought that I have on things. I definitely will journal. As far as writing a memoir, that would probably be more in the distant future. At a personal level I will have my own journals and memoirs that I will keep for sure.

This interview has been condensed and edited.