On tour in the US

Photographer Armando Ello and journalist Griselda Molemans are currently traveling in the US to interview several descendants of ' Black Dutchmen' as the African soldiers who served in the Netherlands Indies army were called. The first stop of the tour was in Upper Marlboro, MD, where Daisy Hodges-Herbig lives with her American husband. Daisy was born in Semarang and came to The Netherlands in 1955. After meeting Glennard Hodges at a jazz club in Amsterdam, the couple got married and moved to the US. Daisy's life story is truly unique and even amazed her American relatives who had only heard part of her story.



Next stop through Washington, D.C., was Birmingham, AL. At the airport, Armando couldn't resist posing with the presidential couple.

In Birmingham, Griselda's luggage was delayed, but host Thad Ulzen, descendant of soldier Manus Ulzen who returned to Elmina after a shortened tour of duty in the Dutch Indies, and his wife Ekua Mensah offered a gracious welcome at the Ulzen Mansion in Tuscaloosa, just outside of Birmingham. The photos that Armando took of Thad Ulzen show him in Ghanaian regal attire. The next batch of interviews takes place in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.