Chances are you’ve already heard of companies like MyHeritage and 23andMe. They send you a home DNA testing kit which you can use to find out more about your heritage. Simply spit in a vial and send it off, and a few weeks later you will get detailed results. It is easy and affordable, and increasingly popular.
However, you may not be sure of what genealogical DNA testing sites provide. You may even be cynical, and imagine that it is only for those who want to boast about their small percentage of African genes, as if that makes them more cultured. If you already have culture, and know where your family is from, can a DNA test add anything to your life?
The truth is that everyone can learn something from an ancestry DNA test. With many options on the market, each providing their own benefits, you can gain insight into yourself and others.
Here are some things you can learn.
We’re all connected
This might be the most clichéd aspect of DNA testing, but you truly do learn how connected you are. Most of us do not have the exact ancestry we expect. We get a percentage of other cultures, and get to experience the process of redefining our identities. I’m not saying you will start trying to co-opt other people’s cultural experience. However, you will get to confront your ingrained prejudices you didn’t even know were there, and learn a little more about people you have always considered to be “other.”
When you have such concrete knowledge that you have connections throughout the world, you can begin to realise that empathy is easier than you thought. We’re all humans, just trying to do our best in this world.
What to look out for
An important aspect that DNA tests may be able to tell you is whether you have a predisposition to certain medical conditions, such as a particular type of cancer, diabetes, or heart conditions. Knowing that you need to regularly check for markers of these illnesses can be the factor that gets you to diagnose it early on. This can be lifesaving.
Even if your DNA results do not give you a clear indication of your propensity to health conditions, by meeting relatives you never knew about, you can find out more about your family history, including health-wise.
Meet relatives
And this is one of the most exciting things about these tests, especially for those without a large extended family. If you allow them to share your details with potential relatives, you can find family you did not know existed. This is particularly thrilling as you get to meet people you immediately have something in common with, but for whom you do not bear a familial responsibility. It gives you the opportunity to choose who you bring into your family. If someone seems like they might be toxic for you, there is no reason you need to make them a part of your life.
There is a lot you can learn from ancestry tests. Give it a try, and share what you find out.
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No no no. Don’t be excited about DNA you are not related to me.
F^cking thugs!!
So how much is the anonymous and very broke author of this article getting for promoting these useless tests?
If you are African and Zambian, it is enough to know that you are within the Bantu speaking group. The only valuable information a DNA test will give you if you specifically as for this, is your genetic disease / and cancer suseptability. But even this is useless if you don’t make some serious lifestyle changes to reduce of hereditary diseases.
And be very careful about going for a DNA test because your profile WILL eventually go into a database that can be used against you by that group of people who run this world.
DONT FALL FOR THIS LIE! A European who enslaved you should turn around and tell you exactly where you came from?? Then you’re a special kind of Chainama case.
Don’t worry about what they can do with the DNA of a perishable body. They can never configure the spiritual DNA of a Believer; originating from the Most High who has declared that we His children shall never die but live forever more.