'This tree was planted by my ancestor hundreds of years ago and my family settled here'

At the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Ghanaian fishing town of Apam, there is a tree that most people barely notice.It stands on a stretch of red clay earth, rooted between two landmarks that tell very different chapters of Ghana's history. On one side is Fort Patience, built by the Dutch in 1697 during the era of European trading forts along what was then known as the Gold Coast, and used to trade in gold, ivory and enslaved people. On the other is the Apam-methodist-church" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="121596" data-entity-type="organization">Apam Methodist Church, a symbol of the Christian faith that spread through coastal communities in the centuries that followed.Fishermen pass it before dawn, carrying their nets towards the shoreline. Children drift past it after school, their routines shaped by the same paths their parents and grandparents once walked. And on Tuesdays, when Apam observes a long-standing spiritual tradition and no-one goes out to fish, the town falls into an unusual stillness, the Atlantic rolling quietly in the background.For most people, the tree is simply part of the landscape. But for my family, this tree has a name: Santseo, a Fanti word loosely translated as "Under" - because people settled underneath its shade.According to oral history passed down over the generations, Santseo was planted in the 13th Century by Komfo Nana Asumbia, a royal figure to whom we trace our lineage. However, to my knowledge, no tests have been done to check how old the tree really is.