 |
|
|
|
Charlotte: |
|
|
Tamandja first black Mason raised in Charlotte AF&AM lodge
|
His English proficiency is superior and his French even better.
Matofam “Eric” Tamandja is a young political refugee from Togo in west Africa. His uncle Mafele is a Mason in that repressive nation. Eric’s two children, 11 and 8, and their grandparents, still live there. Eric is getting Masonic help in bringing them to Charlotte. They haven’t seen their parents for three years.
Eric found himself “on the wrong side” when he disagreed with leaders of the Togo legislature to which he had been elected. To stay alive and out of prison he and his wife Romain fled to America—to New York for one year and two in Charlotte.
The night of November 15, 2007, saw Eric raised as a Master Mason in Temple 676.
Historically he was the first black brother to be raised in an AF&AM lodge, rather than a Prince Hall lodge.
|
|
Produced by the public relations committee of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Masons in North Carolina,
2921 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27628 MMVIII
Author/editor: Walter J. Klein wklein(at)carolina.rr.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
