Find your origin at Origins Centre
JOBURG - Have you ever wondered where or how far your family tree dates back?
Origins Centre at Wits University, which is well known for its exhibitions that take South Africa back in time and show where life originated on each continent, is giving you the chance to go way back into time and find out.
Lesser known to the public is that the centre also does DNA testing and allows participants to find where in the world their bloodline originated from.
The CEO of Origins Centre, Steven Sack, explained why it was decided that DNA testing should be offered to the public.
“The permanent exhibition at the Origins Centre begins with the story of human origins in Africa,” Sack said.
“This story is told both through fossil evidence and the evidence available from DNA. A logical question that anyone may ask would be, ‘so given all of this, where do I come from?’ And so we realised that to give audiences a more personalised connection to the centre, knowledge of their own ancestral DNA would be of great interest.”
In addition, the idea to do DNA testing was confirmed by the global demand to know more about each individual’s ancestral DNA mapping, which is finding the origin of one’s bloodline.
Since the establishment of Origins Centre 10 years ago, they have facilitated DNA testing by educating participants with a short talk about the process of the testing, evolution and DNA by Dr Ian Mckay and Dr Rajeshree Mahabeer, but it is the National Health Laboratory that has done the physical testing of the DNA prior to the establishment of Origins.
Sack further explained that DNA testing has been successful due to the fact that people are interested in finding how they’re connected to others.
“[Participants gain] a deeper understanding of how people all over the world are connected through lines of ancestry that stretch back tens of thousands of years, as well as a more specific insight into their own lineage.”
If you’re curious to find out about your ancestry, then Origins Centre could hold all the answers for you.
Details: bookings.origins@wits.ac.za; www.webtickets.co.za
