|
Abibitumi Kasa
Abakɔsεm
(Abibitumi Kasa
History)
Abibitumi Kasa translates
to Black/Afrikan Power Language. It is an expression that was
coined by Obadele Kambon to convey a marriage between:
* A recognition of the need to reclaim and build upon our
interrelated indigenous systems of
knowledge/spirituality/politics/healing/kwk, which are embedded in
our Afrikan languages.
* A recognition of the ongoing WAR against Afrikan people and the
need for an intentional and unapologetic commitment in every aspect
of life for the Total Liberation of Afrikan People throughout Space
and Time.
Because each of these necessities is manifested in every aspect of
his Ena's (mother's) and Agya's (father's) lives, Obadele has
understood his Nkrabea (mission/destiny) on this planet as a
continuation and further unification of these two interrelated
goals as integral sides of the same coin in the interest of Afrikan
people, Afrikan Sovereignty and Afrikan Liberation.
This is a site by Abibifoɔ (Afrikan
people) for Abibifoɔ (Afrikan people) throughout Abibiwiase nyinaa
(The Entire Afrikan/Black World).
The Adinkra chosen to represent Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Language
Institute was "Nea ɔnnim sua a, ɔhu - When one who doesn't know
learns, she/he knows (sees)"
Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Language Institute (AKALI) in its present
form was conceived of in a casual conversation between Obadele
Kambon and Dr. Kwasi Konadu at the 2006 Sankofa Conference in
Banneker City (Washington, DC). Dr. Konadu worked as the Executive
Director of the Africana Studies Institute (ASI) and webmaster of
the Institute's website. However, due to the monumental task of
keeping the site's content updated along with other time-consuming
duties, he felt that it would be best to take the Africana Studies
Institute site down for the foreseeable future. At that point
Abibitumi Kasa was only a blogspot and not a full-scale website.
After nonchalantly mentioning that I had considered making
Abibitumi Kasa a website, Kwasi told me that he could make some
changes that would put Abibitumi Kasa in the place of the ASI site.
Well, I didn't think anything else of it, but to my surprise Kwasi
sent me an email just a few weeks later informing me that the
domain name and hosting had been taken care of and that the new
site, www.abibitumikasa.com, was ready to go!
Additionally, Kwasi offered technical assistance in getting files
uploaded, suggested programs for website development and offered
the ASI site files as a template upon which AKALI could be built.
Dr. Konadu's assistance and continued support have been invaluable
and without his suban pa and adwuma pa, the current work, classes
and resources that AKALI is providing to Afrikan people would not
be possible.
The website was developed of as an extension of the Twi and Yoruba
classes that were already being offered in Chicago at Betty Shabazz
International Charter School that were sponsored by the school's
parent council from February - December 2006. With this
sponsorship, they paid 50% of the cost of classes for any and all
Afrikans who signed up for the classes.
Upon Obadele Kambon returning from Brazil in May of 2006, the
decision was made to incorporate live audio and video streaming
into the classroom in the summer of 2006. This enabled AKALI the
ability to have students throughout the country and world. AKALI
has taught students as far away as Belize, Australia, Canada and
more as well as various regions of the united states.
Upon launching the Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Liberation Institute
forums Abibitumi Kasa has moved towards providing resources in
Afrikan languages and resources for Afrikan liberation. This aspect
of AKALI was founded with current Abibitumi Kasa admins Oju and
Kala as well as Aziza later. Obadele, Kala and Oju were all
previously admins on another message board, but upon seeing that
board go in directions that were incongruent with Afrikan
liberation, Obadele and Kala left at the same time while Oju chose
to stay. Also coming onboard as moderators were Simba Nerevu and
ajaguna in Afrikan Military Systems and Afrikan Political Systems.
Then we decided to offer Afrikan Liberation classes and brought Dr.
Kamau Kambon and Mwalimu Baruti on to teach their books. We are
looking at having them continue these courses as they are
BlackNificent! Most recent additions include KaNisa, Kentake,
kweku,afro olmec, urithi.communications, Keidi, Runoko Rashidi,
TShango, Akhu, georgia, KheperaEvolutionary, Nana, nattyreb,
Queen_Samiya and Lions Den.
AKALI has also provided instruction for journeys to Afrika serving
students in Ghana (for the AKALI/Sankɔfa Abusua coordinated Sankofa Journey) as well as Betty Shabazz
International Charter School's (BSICS) journey to Senegal and the
Gambia. We returned to Ghana with the Sankofa Journey in July-August of 2008 and will
be continuing annually.
When in Chicago, we expanded to consulting roles teaching at
Chicago State University through the Afrikan amerikkkan studies
department, Winnie Mandela Intergenerational High School teaching
Kiswahili, Charles Hamilton Houston Alternative High School
teaching Kiswahili, Malcolm X College teaching Twi and Yoruba and
more. We are now based in Ghana, West Afrika where we offer classes
in Twi in person and continue with online instruction in various
Afrikan languages and offering various classes through the Afrikan
Liberation Institute.
An additional service that has been a spin off has been web and
graphic design services. This came about as a result of people
falling in love with the design of AKALI's website and graphics.
Afrikans began to ask how much we charge so we established this as
a business.
We continue to build, grow and expand teaching Afrikan languages,
Afrikan worldview and all aspects of Afrikan liberation. This is
the only Afrikan Liberation Institute and/or Afrikan Language
Institute by and for Afrikan people exclusively and
unapologetically. This is the world of Abibitumi Kasa.
Obadele Kwame Kambon
|
