VANCOUVER — A man who has been living in B.C. for the past three years will return to his home country of Ghana to be crowned the king of his tribe and help launch an international charity foundation.

Eric Manu, 32, came to the Lower Mainland in 2012 after marrying a Canadian woman he had met in Ghana. He now has a 10-month-old son and works for a landscaping company, alongside owner Susan Watson.

“One of my previous employees had met Eric at church,” Watson said.

“He was just a really nice guy and it was interesting to talk to him about his homeland. He had told me earlier on that he was going to go home to become chief of his tribe but he thought it was going to be another four or five years away.”

Manu’s uncle had been the tribe’s chief but died in 2013, sparking a long discussion as to his replacement. In July, Manu received a phone call telling him he had finally been chosen to lead the 6,000-person Akan tribe, in southern Ghana.

“In the tradition of my tribe, we inherit from the mother’s side. It gets to the point that I am the oldest nephew of my uncle,” Manu said.

Manu said there was no question as to what had to be done. He readily accepted and began making preparations for his return home.

“If you deny that, it means the inheritance has to go to a different tribe or family and we will lose that for the rest of your life,” Manu said.

‘If I deny that, I am denying my ancestors — that’s something you worked for and inherited for years and years’

“If I deny that, I am denying my ancestors — that’s something you worked for and inherited for years and years.

“So I said, ‘OK. No problem. I will talk to my boss.’ ”

Watson said the timing of the news came as a surprise.

“I said, ‘Oh, Eric. That’s lovely. Make sure you videotape (the ceremony) so I can see it,’ ” Watson said. “And he looked crestfallen. He said, ‘But Sue, I wanted to invite you!’ ”

Touched by the invitation, Watson began to learn more about Ghanaian culture and planning for a trip to West Africa to attend Manu’s coronation, slated for January 2016.

“She said, ‘I feel guilty going into Africa empty-handed,’ ” Manu said.

As a gift, Watson said she would collect used books to start a library, but the plan snowballed into a donation drive, collecting anything that might help a tribe in a developing area.

Over the past few months, Manu, Watson, her daughter, a few friends and employees collected 40 laptops, eight sewing machines, 14 bicycles, school supplies, used clothing, bolts of fabric, high chairs and seeds.

The items were packed in a 20-foot container that shipped from Canada two weeks ago, scheduled to arrive just before Manu’s coronation.

Watson and Manu have since launched the To The Moon And Back Foundation, a charity aimed to provide donations and training for people in Ghana, beginning with Manu’s tribe in 2016. Watson will lend her agricultural expertise to teach locals how to grow produce they’ll then be able to sell.

“What we want to do in the future with the To The Moon And Back Foundation, is to have people move to Africa for a month or two and take these women through vocational training,” Manu said.

Vancouver Province