The news of the sudden death of Isaac Hayes was shocking to many Ghanaians all over the world. The legendary Grammy and Oscar winning US mega musician and entertainer is also known in Ghana as Nene Katey Ocansey I, Nkosuoehne (Chief for Development) of the Ada Traditional Area and a beloved member of the Ocansey Royal Family.

He co-founded the Nene Katey Ocansey I Learning and Technology (NekoTech) Center of Excellence in Ada, Ghana, with Princess Asie Ocansey of Ada. They were assisted by Isaac's spiritual advisor, Reverend Alfreddie Johnson founder of the World Literacy Crusade of Compton, USA.

Isaac's first visit to West Africa was with another baritone man, the late Barry White in 1991, when the two went there to shoot a video for “Dark and Lovely (you over there)”. In 1992, Isaac accepted Dionne Warwick's invitation to join her on a visit to the Elmina and Cape Coast Castles in Ghana. He was hosted by Brother Akbar Mohammed of the Nation of Islam.

This visit to the Elmina and Cape Coast slave dungeons had a profound emotional and spiritual impact on Isaac. It became a turning point for the man who was also known, worldwide, as the 'Black Moses'.

Said Hayes with tears in his eyes: “It was almost like I heard the voices of my ancestors saying: 'We've come back home through you. The circle is now complete'. ”

Isaac was overwhelmed by the hospitality and love he felt in Ghana. Many people would come up to him in the streets to say with smiles, “All my children were conceived because your music created the right environment for love making,” and Isaac would laugh heartily. He knew he had hit a very deep cord in Ghana. Isaac felt extremely at home in Ghana and the people of Ghana loved him.

It was during this time in Ghana, May 1992, that he met the woman who was to become the love of his life, Adjowa, now his wife with a lovely son, Nana Kwodjo.

Upon his return to the USA, the new Nene embarked on several speaking engagements speaking to the African American communities, associations and black expos. He and Dionne Warwick tried to raise funds for the restoration of the Castles, but it was not easy. Isaac then realized that he should focus rather on giving the people of Ghana the powerful gift of literacy – “teaching the people how to fish, instead of feeding them fish”.

It was at one of these speaking engagements on September 18, 1992, at Queens, USA, that the future King (Nkosuoehne of Ada ) met the Princess. Isaac met Naa Asie Ocansey, a Ghanaian Princess from Ada who attended the event with her husband. Princess Ocansey was deeply touched by the sincerity of Mr. Hayes to help Ghana and Africa. She presented Mr. Hayes with a symbolic handwoven royal kente cloth, thanking him for his concern for her people.

Princess Asie Ocansey asked Isaac: “Would you like to be a King?” and he replied joyfully, “Yes!”

Later the Princess arranged with her father, the late Nene Akrofi Kubi III (a kingmaker of the Ada Traditional area) to honor Mr. Hayes. In December 1992, when Isaac came to Ghana to perform at the PANAFEST, a grand coronation was held for him and he was given his new royal name, Nene Katey Ocansey I. (”Katey” means strong enough to calm a lion; the royal family name “Ocansey” means “I do as I say”).

Later that evening he performed at the PANAFEST in Accra and joyfully announced to Ghana that he was part of the Ocansey Royal Family of Ada.

In 1993, Isaac became the International Spokesman for the World Literacy Crusade. Together with Applied Scholastics, ABLE and the Celebrity Center of the Church of Scientology, the World Literacy Crusade, led by Rev. Alfreddie Johnson, Isaac and Princess Ocansey, brought the gift of literacy to the rural villages of Ada and to other parts of Ghana.

By 1998, 53 teachers had been trained at the various schools to be trainers in Ada. Later, three teachers were sent to the USA to finish their training at a higher level. Later on in the year, 1,000 students were trained in the Study Technology and several hundred students wrote success stories on how their grades have improved as they applied the techniques. The programme was expanded to the city and several students gained this valuable knowledge on how to learn and greatly improved their grades.

Seeing the great possibilities that education could generate for the people, the selfless Nene decided to postpone building his personal palace in order to build a training centre for the children of his traditional area.

“I don't want to build a small village school,” said Isaac Hayes. “I want to build a legacy.” And that is exactly what he did.

The “Nene Katey Ocansey I Learning and Technology Center”, (NEKO TECH) is a state of the art beautiful 8,000 square foot building architecturally designed by Plan Architects of Ghana and built by

then of BET-TV, plus numerous other celebrities, all of whom came to be involved in Ghana through Isaac.

To make sure the projects at NekoTech would be well administered, Isaac sponsored an expert consultant, Roger Harrison to teach trainers at Ada about the L. Ron Hubbard Administration Tech, which is still being used to efficiently run the centre.

Through this centre, several projects of both community and global impact have helped many people in the areas of illiteracy, poverty and HIV/AIDS reduction. Continued    Source: The Spectator