TWO years ago, Patrice Smith headed off to West Africa in search of her ancestors.

She returned to Bermuda, armed with a litany of stories and a strong appreciation of her remarkable heritage, having experienced a series of events nothing short of remarkable.

Out of that journey was borne last year's African exposition, an event which introduced many Bermudians to a culture different to their own and which enabled Mrs. Smith to share the saga of her journeys to the remotest parts of the Cape Verde Islands and Senegal.

Based on that success, Mrs. Smith is planning to stage yet another African Expo - this time, however, the event hopes to raise funds for four charities operating with the interests of children at heart. Recipients of the African Expo and Fashion show, to be held at the Bermuda Institute School in Southampton next month, are the school's auditorium fund, the Asou Mankranso Village of Ghana, West Africa, a group of students travelling to the Dominican Republic where, among other charitable activities, they will build a church, and a community services plan run at Bermuda Institute which feeds children whose parents are unable to provide meals for them.

"The first expo took place as a result of the research I'd been doing on my family tree which took me to Cape Verde in West Africa where my grandfather, Antoino Pedro Fortes, came from," Mrs. Smith explained. "The intent was to do it only once but I had so many people coming up to me, asking various questions (on culture in West Africa), I decided to have a second exposition on my travels to Ghana, West Africa and the different villages I visited there.

"The theme of the expo, 'What you should know in order to grow', is one I've actually taken into consideration. (All the charities selected) have something to do with children. That's my main focus. They're our future and it's nice to be able to expose them to another culture."

Mrs. Smith was first inspired to travel to Africa after her brother, Patro Anthony Ford, died tragically in a road traffic accident in 1996, at the age of 27.

"That was the driving force that made me go and look for my family," she explained. "I'd been researching for 12 years, but not in earnest until that happened. I knew that my grandfather, Antoino Pedro Fortes, came from Cape Verde in West Africa.

"I'd been led to believe he was a captured slave on a schooner headed for Newport, Rhode Island or Boston; that the ship ran into difficulty; that they had to pull up in Bermuda waters in the Tucker's Town area, and that he was one of six deckhands who actually skipped ship.

"But I didn't know much more than that. The number one difficulty for me (in corresponding with people in Cape Verde) was the fact that they spoke Portuguese and I couldn't.

"I did manage to discover that all of the men who skipped ship, stayed and had families here. I've traced five out of the six families; all have Portuguese names - DeRosa, Vincente, Arorash, DeSilva-Fortes and Saints - and in talking with them, I have established that they all have roots which stem from the Cape Verde Islands."

Found in the Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Africa, Cape Verde comprises a group of islands. Senegal is their closest point. The islands were settled by the Portuguese in the 15th century, but achieved independence in 1975.

It was through a pen-pal in Boston - originally from the Cape Verde Islands - with whom Mrs. Smith had been corresponding for three years, that she first made some headway.

"All that time, I'd thought my grandfather's surname had been Ford. I only discovered - through my pen-pal - that the name Ford didn't exist in Cape Verde. He'd had his name changed from Fortes to Ford by deed poll. So, of course, I'd spent all that time researching for a name that didn't exist."

Armed with that small bit of information, Mrs. Smith planned a trip to Senegal with a 48-hour side trip to the Cape Verde Islands.

"I went on my first trip there by myself," she said. "That whole experience in Cape Verde was a big challenge for me but fortunately, the (archivist) there keeps very accurate records. Cape Verde is made up of ten islands and I found that my grandfather came from the most remote of the islands, Brava."

To discover further information, Mrs. Smith said, she realised she'd have to travel to the island itself. She hired a translator - a 17-year-old who needed the money to help pay for his education - to ease the language barrier. With the island so remotely placed, however, ferries only ventured the distance every week to ten days.

"They make the trip from the closest point, Fogo, but they wait until (the ferry) is laden with grapes, apples, cars, toilet seats, everything imaginable. (Through that trip) I got to have a feel of what my grandfather must have gone through with his journey - the tenacity of it all. He was only 17. If it was hard for me in the year 2000, I can only imagine how it must have been for him."

In Brava, Mrs. Smith said, her only hope of tracking down any information was through a list of contacts she'd received from people who worked in the archive office in Cape Verde's capital, Praia. With only a day in Brava, she spent that time travelling from cove to cove - a division of land similar to a Bermuda parish - looking for her relatives.

"In Brava, we were told to go and see a 96-year-old gentleman who made a living selling artifacts from tortoise shells. The 96 year old sent us to the next cove, to a 76-year-old lady, who sent us to another cove and finally we came to the town where my grandfather grew up. Translated, its name means 'Our Lady of the Rock'.

"There, we were led to a 102-year-old gentleman which made us very hopeful as, had my grandfather still been alive, he would have been 110. We thought that perhaps the 102 year old might have been familiar with him."

Unfortunately, Mrs. Smith said, the elderly gentleman had no recollection of her grandfather and his was the last name on their list of contacts.

"We went to the final town, it was getting late, and the translator said we'd have to go unless we (discovered something soon). I spotted a tiny pink house on the corner of the road. I couldn't explain it, but I felt in my heart that I had to go there. I went to the house and started crying, I was so drawn to it. We knocked on the door, and the gentleman who answered looked exactly like Patro, my (deceased) brother."

The man at the door was also the exact age as her brother had been at the time of his death, Mrs. Smith said and he shared her older brother's name - John. Even stranger, his 76-year-old father, was named Patro Anthony - as her brother had been.

"Theirs was the last Fortes family living in Brava," she said. "Everyone else had gone to Boston or the Newport, Rhode Island area. From the information he gave me, I was able to discover that my grandfather's mother name and the archives showed she had two sons.

"Their descendants would have been of his lineage. The journey for me was very rewarding and so enriching that I decided to do an African exposition and expose people to the culture and the knowledge that I'd learned."

She had returned to Cape Verde since then, Mrs. Smith said, and most recently visited Ghana.

"It was after my tour to Ghana that I decided to hold a second expo," she explained. "It was very enlightening for me. I got to see lots of traditions. I'd had so many requests after last year's expo, people asking how to wrap their hair, how to wrap a skirt - different things that which, having been exposed to the culture, I would take for granted. And so these are the types of things I'm offering through workshops as part of the event."

Included in the planned festivities is a modern enactment of events which took place in the early 1500s and 1600s in what was then called the Gold Coast, today Ghana. A slide presentation of those places depicted in the drama will follow. A fashion show, ethnic foods, workshops led by owners of small businesses which offering African products locally, and cultural singing are also planned.

"I really just wanted to give back," Mrs. Smith said. "The school is my alma mater and my husband Bob and I have two daughters who attend as well."

q The African Expo and Fashion Show will be held on Sunday, April 6, between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the Bermuda Institute auditorium. Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for children and $5 for seniors with all proceeds going towards the four named charities.