See full wedding pictures below……
“Reparations means repair. Repair means restoring to the condition before damage was done. Had not the Portuguese invaded the land of Guinea on the authority of the dum diversas apostolic edict and launched the evil and criminal trans-atlantic enslavement of African people, including some Balantas, my great, great, great, great, great grandfather would have remained in his ancestral village of untche, speaking his language, living his culture, practicing his spiritual way of life undamaged. Seven generations of my family would not have suffered ethnocide and our bloodline and genetic endowment would not have been forcibly altered and even polluted with the blood of our enemies. My marriage to the beautiful SÂNEBICKTÉ JULIANA YALA NHANCA, daughter of the great balanta president of guinea bissau dr. kumba yala, is evidence, is proof, is a testimony that one can find their way home, reclaim what was lost, restore the bloodline, and experience what god had intended naturally. This is a high expression of reparations and is the aim of the African Renaissance project - to reunite the Afrodescendants with their African family at home and together build a united sovereign Africa states through strong families. god has used us to provide an example, a symbol and we are the face of the Decade of Return.”
- Siphiwe Baleka
September 7, Bissau - SÂNEBICKTÉ JULIANA YALA NHANCA, the daughter of Dr. Kumba Yala, the first and only Balanta President of Guinea Bissau, tied the knot with the founder and President of the Balanta B’rassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA), SIPHIWE BALKEA, whose Balanta name is Brassa Mada. Mr. Baleka has become not only the leader of the Balantas who were enslaved in the Americas, but has been a champion of all the Afrodescendant peoples and their right to return to their ancestral homelands. The marriage of SIPHIWE AND SÂNEBICKTÉ thus represents the repair of severed ancestral linkages and therefore is a unique, living symbol for
the African Union’s “Year of Reparations (2025)”;
The “Decade of Return 2020-2030” from the 2019 Accra Declaration
The African Union’s “Decade of Accelerated Action for the Transformation of Education and Skills Development in Africa (2025-2034)”
The African Union’s “Decade of Action on Reparations and African Heritage (2026–2036)”
“Imagine if Alex Haley stayed in Jufureh and married a real Mandinka princess. So I have done Alex Haley one better,” said the bridegroom. “Balanta people do not have a chief or king, so President Kumba Yala’s family is the closest thing to a Balanta royal family that there is and SÂNEBICKTÉ is the Balanta princess.”
As the founder of the Balanta Society in America and Guinea Bissau’s Decade of Return Initiative that has seen fifty people return to their Balanta ancestral homeland and twenty people receive their citizenship, Siphiwe Baleka has emerged as the Balanta with a great amount of “vital life force energy” to educate the people in the United States about Balanta history and culture. For Brassa Mada, to find love and marry the daughter of Kumba Yala just seems like poetic justice and destiny.
MORE THAN JUST A LOVE STORY
“I am 36 years old and I didn’t marry before and I didn’t have any children,” recounted the new Mrs. Baleka. “My husband didn’t ask me to date, he said he wants to marry me! Directly! So, in my head, I thought, wow, . . . I asked three times to be sure. Yeah, because nobody before tell me that seriously he wants to marry me before having a relationship. No. So he was the first one doing this, so I said to myself, ‘wow, this man is not someone who is coming to break my heart. He is serious. So he is my husband.’ Yeah. Yeah. [Laughing] Yeah. I saw in his eyes he was serious so I said yes. So he was the answer to my prayer to God also.”
Describing to his family the process for getting the marriage accepted, Siphiwe Baleka stated,
“Well, that part is over. I must admit, when I first entered and about 15 or so of her uncles, auntides, her grandmother,..... sat down and were so quiet, for the first time I felt nervous, kind of like when Im getting ready to swim in a competition. My fiance’s older brother initiated the talks. He was polite and welcoming and serious. The Balanta side of the family sat on one side, the Mancanha side of the family sat on the other. Then Beto introduced me and the purpose of the gathering was now at hand: to tell them why I was there and what I want. I spoke first in Kriol with a little bit of Balanta to endear myself to them, and then Beto translated. In short, I explained that I was born and raised in an all-white community in America, and as a result never felt that place was my home and from that stems my desire to find out where I come from. I told them that the miracle of DNA testing allowed me to do that and hence they could understand my desire to live in Guinea Bissau and marry a Balanta woman. I then said that that desire has caused me to organize other Balanta people in America and lead them back to their ancestral homeland, too. I explained that because of the differences in culture, I needed a woman who could speak English and would understand my "special" challenges and help me re-integrate into Guinean society. Therefore, marrying Sanebicte feels like "destiny". I then told the story of how Bicte and I met and how 10 minute into our first date I knew I wanted her to be my wife and told her so. I told them that we have spent enough time together to see that we make each other happy and that we are compatible and therefore, I ask the families to give us their blessing. Beto said I spoke well and everyone expressed how happy they were (that I was taking away the shame of the families of having a 36-yearold unmarried daughter - the duaghter of the former President!!!!) Beto then presented them with the gifts - bottles of cana (spirits), wine, beer, and juice. Then we all went outside and the subrinhas (nieces) served two different kinds of chicken and salad. After eating, the families then started discussing the details for the activities this weekend. There was considerable discussion on what to do, when, where, how, etc. and a list was drawn up of all the things I would have to provide. When it was all finished, everyone was happy and relieved, most of all Bicte. She told me that that was the hardest part and now she truly feels like she is my wife. She was seriously worried how this would go and so she was VERY happy at the outcome and the certainty that in four more days, she will be officially considered married in the Mancanha tradition and can thus be allowed to live with me in my house with dignity and having released her family from the shame....:
A DESTINY AND A PURPOSE
After the wedding, the new bride stated,
“My father is someone who has lived all his life showing the people about Balanta people, about Balanta culture…. He was someone who really loved his ethnic, his country, his village, his culture. So he fought for this to show the people how important Balanta is for Guinea Bissau and my husband is doing the same, so my father would be proud of him.”
Balanta Professor of International Politics Beto Infanda, the best man at the wedding said,
“It is with great joy, responsibility and honor that we are the Godfather and Godmother of dear Sanebicte Yala, the daughter of our charismatic President of the Republic, Dr. Koumba Yala and dear Siphiwe Ka Baleka our American balance. Our particular thanks to [Agostinho Da Costa ] the distinguished National Secretary of APU-PDGB, the older brother of Sanebicte for his support in facilitating the process.”
It should be noted that:
The first documented ecounter of the European attack against the people of the land of Guine was a naval battle featuring great Guinean swimmers recorded by Gomes Eannes de Azurara, former Chief Chronicler of the Kingdom of Portugal, in his book, The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea (1453) while Siphiwe Baleka is the Guinean National record holder in every swimming event and is thus the greatest documented swimmer in Guinea Bissau’s history.
Dr. Kumba Yala was considered the only man courageous enough to stand up against the oppressive powers ruling Guinea Bissau in the late 1990s and was thus elected and served as President from 2000 to 2003. This is the same fearless spirit of Brassa Mada.
Siphiwe Baleka has become the “Moses” of Balanta people, being the first to permanently relocate to Guinea Bissau and has become the Afrodescendants’ champion of the Right to Return, representing them at the United Nations, the African Union, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In 2023 Siphiwe Baleka charged the United States with state sanctioned ethnocide against Balanta people in the United States at the Inter American Commission for Human Rights and at the United States’ fifth periodic review under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at the United Nations in Geneva.
Says SÂNEBICKTÉ
“Our story is like a story that you find in books or movies. I am someone who my husband was looking for to complete his work. My father was the inspiration for all Balanta people in Guinea Bissau. So marrying one of his daughters it is the good gift for my husband to help his work. Otherwise, he is someone that I was waiting for, because I want the world, not only Guinea Bissau, to know my father his story. I want to tell the people the real story about my father. Not in politics, but in family life, his private life. It’s true we can’t talk about my father without touching on the politics, but I want people to know this man at home, his children, his wife, his family in general. So, my husband, he came to complete my job. Not to complete, but to start my job because until now, it was just an idea, for a long time I have it in my mind, my heart. And until now, I didn’t start. So I am grateful to God to give me this blessing, this gift to write my father’s story.”
There is still a civil and church wedding planned next month and a BIG traditional Balanta wedding for early next year that is expected to be a grand international event. Weddinggifts can be made at:
CashApp: $SiphiweBaleka1
Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/SIPHIWEBALEKA?locale.x=en_US
Website: https://www.balanta.org/checkout/donate?donatePageId=5d83e1204470e31e2d773eae
