Disciples of Dogon Master Neb Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig met with Burkina Faso’s General Consul, Estelle Pélagie P. Segda Gango in New York City, strengthening a shared commitment to culture, diaspora engagement, and the development of the homeland
By Teryshaat Maaheqwur Satish
Disciples of Dogon Master Neb Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig met with Burkina Faso’s General Consul, Estelle Pélagie P. Segda Gango in New York City, strengthening a shared commitment to culture, diaspora engagement, and the development of the homeland.
The delegation was led by Iritah Shenmira Naba (Neb), KEBTAH Director of Education and Executive Director of Ankhkasta Natural Healing, alongside KEBTAH leader Nekhitem Kamenthu and KEBTAH community host Teryshaat Maaheqwur Satish.
The visit came in response to a broader call from President Ibrahim Traoré and the leadership of Burkina Faso inviting Burkinabè throughout the diaspora to connect with their diplomatic representatives, present the work they are carrying out abroad, and explore how their efforts can contribute to the country’s development. For the delegation, this opportunity represented a natural convergence. Their visit marked an effort to formally present Neb Naba’s mission, history, and the continuation of his work.
With the approval of the Dogon elders and wisdom keepers, Neb Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig brought the mission of the Kemetic Temples to the West in 1995. Following his transition, his heir, Iritah Shenmira Naba (Neb) and other disciples have continued and expanded this work. Today, the international mission has branches throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Benin, along with a global community of members. In 2025, the Royalty of the Gulmu Kingdom, headed by his Majesty Untaamba, commissioned the next iteration of the mission under the name Kebtah, to ensure that Neb Naba’s work would continue its evolution.
As a son of the Gourmantché people, Neb Naba is a foremost example of someone who traveled the world and lived in many places far from his homeland of Burkina Faso, while keeping his life’s work firmly rooted in preserving, transmitting, and bringing greater appreciation to the Indigenous knowledge and traditions of the Dogon people of his homeland and the African continent.
The Consul General warmly received the delegation and expressed her appreciation for learning about the work the mission has sustained in the West. She particularly appreciated that thousands of miles from Burkina Faso, members of the mission continue to dedicate their efforts to preserving, practicing and representing African cultural traditions with pride.
A central part of the discussion focused on the relationship between Burkina Faso and its diaspora. The Consul General emphasized the importance of those who travel and establish themselves abroad maintaining pride in their roots, remaining connected to their homeland, and finding ways for their knowledge, skills and resources to contribute to the country’s development. In this respect, she recognized a strong alignment with the Neb Naba’s mission.
Over the decades, the path opened by Neb Naba has brought more than a thousand cultural exchange travelers into direct contact with Indigenous communities and traditions. These journeys create opportunities for people in the diaspora to move beyond learning about Africa from a distance, or from media portrayals, and instead directly encounter the cultures, people and knowledge of their roots, firsthand. While these immersion trips help boost local economies and highlight the work of traditional artisans, they are also unique because travelers experience and understand true cultural monuments from the perspective of indigenous leaders and wisdomkeepers. This stands in contrast to the anthropological approach most travelers to the continent encounter, where narratives are often shaped by political agendas, or those studying from the outside looking in, rather than by those who are the custodians of indigenous history.
At the same time, the mission extends beyond cultural exchange. Resources raised through the international community are directed back toward Indigenous-led initiatives, including traditional agriculture and seed preservation, access to clean water, land reclamation, and educational programs that equip young people to navigate the modern world while remaining connected to their cultural heritage. In this way, the mission has created a two-way bridge: bringing people from the diaspora back into relationship with the homeland, while channeling resources and support from abroad toward the communities preserving the knowledge that made that reconnection possible. This type of symbiotic relationship is rare in a global context where cultural exchange is often reduced to tourism, and where aid and development projects frequently come with the heavy fee of foreign soft power agendas, rather than respecting the wisdom and vision of community leadership.
This approach closely aligns with Burkina Faso’s current policy direction, which emphasizes national sovereignty, self-reliance, and international partnerships that reinforce—rather than dictate—the country’s own development priorities. It also reflects the nation’s renewed recognition of customary and traditional authorities as vital guardians of culture and community-led governance. In January 2026, Burkina Faso formally adopted legislation recognizing customary and traditional leadership within its national governance system. By placing Indigenous leadership at the center, while welcoming respectful collaboration from the diaspora, the Kebtah mission offers a living model of the sovereign, culturally grounded cooperation Burkina Faso is seeking to advance.
The conversation also touched on another dimension of Neb Naba’s work: members of the community who were born or raised in the West choosing to repatriate and build their lives in Burkina Faso. Their decision reflects an understanding that development is not simply about what can be found looking outside of Africa. It also requires recognizing the cultural, intellectual and human wealth that has remained preserved within the continent—and seeing value in returning to it and building on it as a foundation.
As part of the meeting, the delegation presented the Consul General with several works produced through Rising Firefly Productions and connected to Neb Naba’s educational mission, including the Sidereal Calendar, Book of Purifications, Philosophy Podium, The Code of Human Behavior, and The Mandala of Denderah. These publications include ancient Kemetic texts that Neb Naba revived and reproduced in order to assist humanity to reconnect to ancestral, time-tested wisdom.
Together, these works offered a tangible introduction to the mission’s efforts to make Indigenous knowledge accessible to communities in the West while maintaining its connection to the cultures and traditions from which that knowledge originates.
The Consul General expressed her support for the KEBTAH mission and encouraged the organization to remain connected with the Consulate. She welcomed invitations to upcoming events and expressed openness to future opportunities for collaboration.
The meeting ultimately reflected a question extending far beyond a single organization or diplomatic visit: What responsibility does the diaspora carry toward the homeland?
Leaving one’s country does not have to mean leaving one’s roots behind. At a time where globalization often leads to erasure, it can also open the doors to unprecedented exchange and preservation, depending on the mindset.
The diaspora can become a bridge—carrying knowledge, experience, and resources outward while maintaining a responsibility to contribute back to the places and cultures that formed it. This in itself is revolutionary because it underscores the inherent pride of preserving one’s integrity and roots regardless of the demands of assimilation, a conflict many immigrants often face.
Kemetic wisdom states: “One cannot ignore the roots and expect to evolve”. In this spirit, the meeting at the Consulate of Burkina Faso in New York City affirmed the common ground between Neb Naba’s mission and Burkina Faso’s call to its diaspora: the revolution is not simply about returning home—it is about refusing to leave home behind wherever we go.
To show your support for the mission, wear our Kebtah | Burkina Faso collaboration shirt from Rising Firefly.
