Black American Woman Discovers Igbo Roots and Marries an Igbo man in Owerri

My name is Rhonda Nwosu (nee Jones). I am a native of Petersburg Virginia, born in 1981. I have been working as an educator for over 15 years. Growing up, I was always interested in knowing my ancestral roots. I took an Ancestry DNA test in 2019 and discovered a 4th cousin match named Tochi, living in Houston Texas from Imo State Nigeria. I reached out to him, and we quickly formed a friendship. I learned that I was an Igbo, a nation of people indigenous to southeast Nigeria. 

My Introduction to Uche 

One day I asked Tochi if he could connect me to a good Igbo man and about a month later in September 2019, he introduced me to Uche in a WhatsApp video conference. I learned that Uche was 3 years older than me and worked in the commercial transportation industry. Most importantly, we are both Sabbath worshippers sharing the same Messianic Hebrew faith. We quickly began a friendship, and he discussed plans to visit the US in the spring of 2020 and finally meeting face to face. However, the pandemic arrived and greatly delayed those plans. As our relationship grew, Uche began to discuss plans of marriage with me. We began to seriously talk about marriage around February 2020. He always wanted me to marry in Igboland and I wanted to marry in the States where my family was. However, because of travel bans it was impossible for him to come into the U.S., so I agreed to marry in Nigeria. 

Finally Meeting Face to Face 

After a long year and a half engagement period, I ventured to Nigeria with my mother to meet Uche for the first time. This happened August 9, 2021, a few days before our wedding. My first impressions of him were that he was handsome, well dressed, and had a huge personality. 

Our Wedding 

Our wedding took part in three stages: the court wedding, the religious ceremony, and the traditional Igbo rites. The date of our court registry marriage was August 12, 2021. It took place on a Thursday around noon. It was very beautiful and hot. I wore a white one shoulder ruffled mermaid styled wedding gown and Uche had on a gray suit with royal blue tie.

 On August 22, 2021, we had our religious ceremony and traditional rites in Owerri at the Geoprobe Estate. For the religious ceremony, I wore a white floor-length ballroom gown with a beaded lace bodice. Uche wore a light gray three piece suit with a royal blue tie and pants.

Hours later, Uche and I changed our clothes for the traditional Igbo ceremony. I wore a red velvet traditional dress and my husband wore a matching red velvet outfit. We took pictures with our wedding cake and set on 

our thrones. 

 The wedding party wore white dresses and red headwraps. After that, I was directed into the house were I changed into another dress, a purple and

turquoise off the shoulder floor length gown ensemble. Here I performed the wine carrying tradition, a traditional Igbo marriage rite. It was a time to remember.