Ɔdomankoma abɔde yε hu-gctid38275

[KwameD]

PROGRAM SHOW TIMES (on Thursdays only)
15:30 - 17:00 Eastern time
20:30 - 22:00 GMT

This is a program on Adom FM 106.3 (a radio station in Tema,Ghana). On Thursdays there is this program on the air called Ɔdomankoma abɔde yε hu! (The Creator's creations are frightening/scary!). It is quite a cool program. They begin with prayers but you can skip that, so if you listen in 15 to 20 minutes into the program you'll miss the prayers.

The stories on this program are usually accounts about witchcraft and investigations into other spiritually related matters. The old man (85 years old or so) who is the host of the program is a herbalist and a spiritualist. He often talks about different herbs and their spiritual applications and he's apparently putting together a book on herbs and spiritual reading. I can't wait to read it. As far as learning about some of the different manifestations of witchcraft in Ghana is concerned, this is perhaps the best program, some of the stories are unbelievable.

Examples from previous show episodes:

- an angry female witch used to shapeshift into a deer at night to destroy the crops of her adversary, until he sprinkled his crops with a protective herbal mix. Next time the witch tried to eat the plants she was axed! As she tried to turn back into human, she got caught in a shape that was half human, half deer. The town folk then took her to the traditional authorities.

- a man's mother was messing with his wife, preventing her from giving birth. Whenever she got pregnant, after about 5 to 6 months she would have a dream that she was having sex with someone. This then led to a miscarriage. So she got some herbal mix to protect her. Next time she got pregnant and the same thing was about to occur, she heard a shout in her room. Her husband turned the light on, and lo and behold her mother-in-law was standing in their room, naked. She lives over 100 km away from them.

The stories are really cool.

This past Thursday (Jan 7, 2010) the three main topics were:
1) A female witch at one of the major hospitals in Ghana (not named) who is accused of killing young children, and the spiritual team that was brought in to conduct the investigation.
2) The nature of making a pact/covenant (word in Twi is 'Apam', which literally means something like "as been sown/joint together") between human and human, and human and spirit.
3) A male witch's account (given on radio this thursday) of what it's like to be a male witch. This guy's wife went to get a herbal mix and sprinkled it over him and he got into big trouble. This one was really good. If you have read  Gaberial Bannerman-Richter Gabriel Bannerman-Richter's witchcraft trilogy (accounts from witches and traditional priests) you will realize that what he reported about Ghanaian witchcraft decades ago is still happening on a daily basis in Ghana today.

Highlight from next week's program (Jan 14th):
- 8 year-old children to be brought on air to talk about their witchcraft, how they got it, how they use it, how it affects them etc.

The entire program is in Twi.

People call from all over Ghana, and indeed you get Twi-speaking people calling from all over the world to talk to Opanyin Addo-Agyekum, the show host, while the show is on air.

*The program will soon be on TV3 as well.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE Jan 7, 2010 PROGRAM:

1) Discourse on the nature of Spiritual Pacts

Apam (Covenant/pact/contract) [has been sown together]
Arrangement between 2 humans or between a human and a spirit. Nkyekyεe (arrangement).

2 kinds:
1) honam fa mu (those of the flesh)
2) honhom fa mu (those of the spirit)

2 kinds of spirits: good ones and bad ones.

In the case of the man and the woman, traveling over the river (one of the accounts of a pact given on the program), the river acted as a witness to the pact between the two lovers.

Humans are the ones who allow pacts to occur between human and spirit. Both factons have to agree and both have to benefit, however the human has power over the spirit, unless that power is given away

2) A male witch talks. (his witch spirit has been taken away at this point)

Bayi-bronsam (transcription from the Twi)

What is it? His power was greater than that of 7 female witches together. His power was great and scary. The man knew that he was a 'bayi-bronsam' (witch-devil), he just did not say. How old was his 'power'? Over 100 years old. The power entered him when he was young, he got it from his grand mother.

He has a wife, but no physical children. No children in the flesh but in the spirit he has 3. How come? The power inside him decided, it was the power that decided. Why? Because the power inside him wanted him to do some things for the power/spirit, he was  prevented from having physical children. He is 33 years old.

His wife has been going to several places to try to get her to give birth, she went to titi-atenpong herbal clinic to get the 'gun' (spiritual 'gun' against malevolent witches and malevolent spirits), and the gun went off. For 2 weeks, he was 'down'...she could see that he was suffering but could not know why..[hahaha, my addition]...and then she came home with the oil, and put the oil all over the guy. The guy was really suffering at this point. In the spirit he was fine but in the flesh he was down.

There were about 10 witches in his group. He has used his power to kill at least 10 in the family. Then there are others who have been spoilt by him...turned to drinking, fornicating etc. In his group, he usually gets the stomach and the head when it comes to eating 'meat'...[lol]. All in all, everyone brings their own. How does one do it? He used his wife's hair to go out into the spirit world [astral travel] to hunt. The hair is his woman's glory. He removes the glory from his wife so that no man will look at his wife. That is his 'chair' when he gets to the meeting of witches. In the spirit world, while he sits on his wife hair, he gets his respect from others by appearing regal.

His witch-spirit has now been removed. The spirit is an old spirit. Yet he still has memories of all that occurred and stuff that happens. He still has powers [one woman called the program and this guy, this male-witch started saying things about her when he didn't even know her]

[people call into the program]