She found out she was an African princess at 28, now Disney is making a movie of her life – meet Sierra Leone’s US-raised royal Sarah Culberson
- Adopted by a couple in Morgantown, West Virginia, Princess Sarah Culberson only found out that she is the Mende tribe’s Lady of Bumpe at age 28
- She founded non-profit Sierra Leone Rising, which focuses on education, women’s empowerment and public health safety, and encourages people to wear masks to curb Covid-19
Sarah Culberson might have expected the search for her birth parents to be character forming, but she could never have guessed just how much her life was about to change.
Culberson – who was adopted by Jim and Judy Culberson, a white couple living in West Virginia, US – started looking for her birth mother at 21, but learned that she succumbed to cancer 10 years prior.
She was then terrified to find her birth father. She took her friend’s suggestion and hired a private investigator for US$25, as told to Business Insider. The investigator eventually returned with a promising lead and connected Culberson to her biological aunt who lived in nearby Maryland.
Then, her uncle revealed her identity as a princess of the Mende tribe in Sierra Leone. It was a revelation, and Culberson flew to the country to visit her biological dad.
So after discovering her heritage at age 28, what has Princess Sarah been up to, and what is her life like outside of her royal duties?
She takes her royal responsibilities seriously
In 2004, Princess Sarah arrived in Bumpe, Sierra Leone. At the time, the country was recovering from an 11-year civil war. The situation was bleak. Schools and communities were ravaged and destroyed.
The gravity of the situation led her to establish non-profit foundation Sierra Leone Rising, which advocates for education, women’s empowerment and public health safety. It also promoted Mask on Africa, a campaign that encourages people to wear masks to curb Covid-19.