âOver 500 years ago, my tribe arrived on the shores of India from Africa,â says the social worker narrator of Asha Stuartâs Lost Tribe of Africa. His ancestors fled enslavement, escaping into the forest in the Indian state of Karnataka where they live today, most of them Hindu converts. Indiaâs 35,000 descendants of slaves from Africaâs Bantu Region are members of the Siddi tribe. Siddi means âenlightened one,â but the Siddi are âUntouchablesâ in Indiaâs caste system. âHow do you empower the youth in a world whose people think theyâre less than human?â asks the narrator, whose life mission is to do just that.
