Translated excerpts from Akɔm ho Nkɔmmɔbɔ (Conversations about Akom)-gctid59646

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

A Short Word about Kwaku Mframa
  Kwaku Ɔpɔn was born around 1929, and he came to be an ɔkɔmfo who was given the name Mframa. His grandfather was Ɔkɔmfo Mɛnsa Abrampa who would possess the ɔbosom, Yentumi. When his mother was pregnant with Kwaku Mframa, his grandfather passed away, but before he passed, he vowed that if the child who she was pregnant with was a boy, they should train him in akɔm, the art of possession, and he should follow in his own footsteps in doing akɔm.  Thus, when Kwaku Ɔpɔn was between five and six years old, his parents took him to an ɔkɔmfo at Kagyebi in Huam. This ɔkɔmfo possessed two abosom: Yentumi, who was a male ɔbosom; and Dɛntɛ, who was a male. When Mframa went into akɔm training and his father who was a goldsmith had him go and stay at Kagyebi up to the time that he finished his training. The place that he went was just like a school or any other place of learning; when he went, he came to meet twenty-nine (29) other people who were learning akɔm there.  When they put Mframa into akɔm training, the ɔkɔmfo gave him medicine with which to bathe. What they used to make the medicine were the following things: they used the bottom of the odii (okoubaka aubrevillei) (the odii tree is a tree divinity that can speak), the bottom of the abonsannua, the bottom of the akwammeɛ (that can speak), a vine that was in a river that water flowed over, nsamansuo (water used to wash someone who had died), and adukurosuo (water found in a hole in a tree). Then they took all of these things and put them into a giant earthen pot, put thunderstones in at the bottom, took seven old silver shillings and gold dust and finally took asukane (water from where no one has drawn water previously) and mixed them into the medicine.
  Before they began bathing him with the medicine, the elders took a drink to the ancestral grove to go pour libations.  There are two ways that people prepare medicine. The first is that they can prepare the medicine on the grave of the person who wants to learn akɔm. If the prepare the medicine somewhere else, in that case they will take something of the person's ancestor and bury it so that that person can go bathe on it. Things that are often used are hair (if any ɔkɔmfo dies, they cut his or her hair and hang it behind the ɔbosom in the shrine). Then, they go to the place where they go dig up some dirt at the place where the corpse is located, and they will add it to the hair. Then at night they will go to the grave and dig up his/her bone and as well. On the day that they do this ritual, they fast and do not possess.  When they initiated Mframa into akɔm, they did so in the second way. That is to say they went to his grandfather, ɔkɔmfo Mɛnsa Aboampa's, grave and removed things from it to go bury at the place of akɔm initiation. Mframa himself said that when they initiated him, the elders chanted to call his grandfather, ɔkɔmfo Mɛnsa Abrampa, before they went to his grave to take things to take to the place of initiation. What was chanted and said was the following:    

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Question:
They say that you cured someone who was suffering from the sickness of epilepsy. Tell us a bit about how you cured the illness.

Answer:
The child whose sickness I cured was named Yaa Ofobi who she and her father Kwaku Pon live at Yamfo and plant cocoa. In the house where this child lived, there was also a child who suffered from epilepsy. At this point, the child who suffered from this epilepsy bought an orange from Yaa Ofobi’s but didn’t have the money to pay. Yaa Ofobi started to verbally abuse the child who was sick saying: “an animal like you, a fool like you, an epileptic like you, I went and plucked my orange and you who came to buy it, you say you won’t pay for it. Could it be that you suspect that because of your epilepsy that comes that you can get away with it or because of your body’s craziness that I bought the orange? If I’m afflicted with epilepsy could I use that as pretext to buy oranges? So bring me my money!” The mother of the epileptic child took the money and threw it at Yaa Ofobi. As soon as Yaa Ofobi grabbed hold of the money, she was afflicted with epilepsy making her shake and fall down. This child suffered from epilepsy for about six years and after this, they brought the child for me to cure her sickness. Elder Kwaku Pɔn informed me about how it happened and told me that he holds the belief that that woman is a witch who has transferred her child’s epilepsy onto his own child. I told them to go and beseech the woman who threw the money at Yaa Ofobi asking her for forgiveness and if she agrees, I can cure her sickness. So indeed, they went to beseech elder Kwaku Fokuo at Yamfo and spoke at length. As for the woman, what she said was: “As for me, it’s not that I’m a witch and I gave the child epilepsy, but rather it was Onyame who was paying the child back for the laughter with which she ridiculed my child’s sickness. And a mother who took care of my child causing the sickness to go, this is the medicine so take it and mention the name of it to the ɔkɔmfoɔ. And if the ɔkɔmfoɔ has a spirit to stand behind it, and uses it, it (the sickness)             will go. Indeed, the woman picked an herb known as abirimmro and gave it to them to show me. The woman had me mix it with ginger and add apokuo and I used the locally brewed “akpeteshi” gin to steep the medicine and give to the child. The woman then showed me another medicine called dubrafoɔ for me to cook to make like a tea to give to Yaa Ofobi to drink and that when she drinks it, it would remove parasites from her stomach. I cooked a bottle of the medicine to keep and gave some to the child to drink. She threw up from morning until she vomited blood and parasites that had gathered together came out of her mouth. When these parasites came out, the child slept for about a week and when she got up, she started to fall down. From then until now, it’s been about three years, the child’s epilepsy has not come back. They thanked me with fifty pounds and a sheep and the gave the child to me for her to serve me.
                        It was the woman who gave me the power that I was able to cure the sickness. The woman was a witch, and she couldn’t conceal that she was a witch and that’s why she plucked the leaves and blessed them so that I was able to use them to look after the child.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Question: They say an elder known as Adu Kofi who’s from (Teppa) Maaban came to you to cure himself and you told him that he would die due to the cough that he was suffering from. You had him bring a chicken and they split the chicken in half and there were no intestines or liver in it. Can you explain to us how this came to be?

Answer:     All that has been said is true. The elder Adu Kofi who is from Maaban suffered from a cough and came for me to cure his sickness. When he came, his stomach was flat signifying that both of his lungs were damaged. I told him to go buy a chicken and cut it in half. And when I split it in half, if its intestines, lungs and heart aren’t inside, it means that he would die. And if I split it open and if all of these things were in it then, he would survive, and I would be able to treat him. This man went to Kumase and caught a big chicken of his that he had raised and brought it. When he came, I gave him fourteen shillings to go buy a bottle of schnapps for me. He wouldn’t take my money, and he took his own money to go buy the schnapps then returned. And when he left the shrine to go buy the schnapps, I shoved my hand into the chicken’s anus and pulled out the chicken’s intestines and all of its entrails and I had my sibling dig a hole and bury it all in there. I then took white kaolin chalk powder and rubbed it onto the chicken’s anus to stop the flow of blood that was coming out of it. When the elder came the chicken hadn’t died and we had tied it down. So when he came I took the liquor from him and poured a libation and I told him to go get his chicken. And if when he split it open the intestines were inside, I could save him; and if the intestines weren’t inside, then he was already a dead man.
                        The elder Adu Kofi split the chicken in half and saw that there were no intestines inside. So this elder begged me to save him. I told him that just as the chicken’s stomach, that’s just how his stomach was. This elder agreed that it was true because indeed, he wasn’t able to eat well; when he ate, he would vomit. I told him that his family members had divided up part of his intestines. I asked him, “Sir, what kind of work do you do?” He answered that he shoots guns, that he’s a hunter. I continued asking him what part of the animals that he kills that he likes. He said, “I only usually like to eat the animal’s intestines and heart.” I told him that when he was a hunter, he killed an animal and he didn’t give some to his sibling named Aboagyewaa. And this woman used his entrails to make an eating calabash so that now his intestines weren’t inside him anymore. The elder agreed to let me work on it for him. I charged him nine pounds and ten shillings, and I had him go buy a sheep and another chicken. When he brought the chicken, I had him say: “Yɛntumi, if you are really strong, the person who has afflicted me that has removed my intestines from my stomach, when day breaks and if I split this chicken in half and its intestines aren’t inside, kill that person for me.” When the elder split the chicken in half, all of its intestines and entrails were there. I sent for them to go call the man’s sister Aboagyewaa who was afflicting him and I scared her saying that if she didn’t stop what she was doing to her sibling, I’d kill her. She became scared and she stopped troubling her brother.
                        I gave effort to make medicine for this man up to the point that he recovered his strength and he lived for three years before he died. After this I saw that it was a cough due to piles that they had afflicted this man with.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Question: What way to you sacrifice the chicken to make it die facing downwards?
Answer: The way I make the chicken die facing downwards is that, if I take the knife and cut its neck, I cut through the throat so that it goes inside. I don’t cut it hastily and I squeeze my shoulder muscles tightly so that I take the knife and thrust it into its throat so that it will cut and go into its throat. If it is cut in this manner, a lot of blood spurts out and the chicken can only jump about two times in struggling to turn. So it jumps once or twice and it ends up facing downwards. For those whose chickens I don’t want to face downwards, I cut the side of the chicken’s neck and I don’t go into, nor do I go near the throat. When I pierce the side of its neck like so, the chicken will struggle and struggle and struggle up to the point where its throat is hot and it is exhausted and out of breath. If it struggles like this it can fall on its stomach about four times before it dies. If the chicken struggles to turn facing upwards and it faces downwards then turns up again and then faces downwards again, I count the time that it first turned upwards as being accepted. If the chicken struggles as soon as it lays facing upwards like this, I make those who are there understand that the chicken has been accepted, so later if it ends up facing completely downwards, we don’t speak of it. The chicken that I want to die and face downwards, I take the knife and thrust it into the bottom of its throat, cutting so that it goes in and it doesn’t even struggle three times before facing downwards and dying.
Question: Try to mention to us the additional things that your teacher taught you.
Answer: What he taught me is that, in ancient times, if a king inherits the throne and the children of his reign die, they call an ɔkɔmfo who’s well versed to preserve the town. This made my teacher teach me the remedy for such cases. If something like this happens and if they call me then I tell the king that I can make the medicine because the devilish ones are ruining the town. I go buy a sheep and I procure some Black powder that my kɔmfoɔ taught me. When I arrive at the outskirts, I blow some Black powder and when I arrive back to the town convulsions affect the children who are about to die. If it happens like this, the citizens will say “there is a visitor ɔkɔmfoɔ who has come into town here, so let’s have the sickly child go to him.” Further, I have the Black powder that if I put into alcohol and have you drink, the convulsions that have affected you will go quickly. So when they bring that child, I give him the Black powder to drink so that the sickness goes away. That’s when I relate to the king of the town that there are witches that are bringing the town to ruin and in truth, as he has chosen me, I will be able to remove the witchcraft from the town. The way that I get rid of the witchcraft is that, I go sacrifice a sheep in my town and I buy an earthen pot and fill it with the blood of the sheep. I cook the head of the sheep allowing the meat on it to fall off. I take the skull of the sheep that is remaining and use it to stir the blood that is in the earthen pot. I also break off the legs so that it’s like bones and I take them in put them into the blood. When the earthen pot is full, I cover it and place it somewhere and at night when everyone is sleep, I go dig a pit under an odum tree, (Kmtyw teak: Milicia excelsa) or onyina tree (Silk cotton tree: Ceiba pentandra) that is standing in the town and take it and seal it before I cover it. When I finish I stick cowrie shells onto the place where I’ve buried the pot, the cowries will also be buried there. After it’s there for a while, I go and report to the king that on that day I will expel the witchcraft. At that point the king convenes a meeting with everyone and I begin to become possessed like I’m looking for medicine in the town. I will be possessed for about seven days and we won’t be able to expel the medicine. On a day that rain falls so that the place where I’ve buried the pot becomes smoothed out so that no one can see that we’ve dug a pit a placed something in it, I’ll tell the king that the witchcraft is at that spot. Because of this, the king will beat the gong-gong announcing to the nation that on that day, we will expel the witchcraft that is in the town that is not allowing the young men who work to get money, is causing those who drive to have accidents, causing the children of women who give birth to die, and the other things. All of the people of the town will meet so that we may begin to expel the witchcraft, and when we begin to dig it up, the blood is in the pot and something that looks like a human skull is inside. As soon as you even look at it, you must become afraid. When this happens, I go pulverize some leaves into a calabash and I make the citizens understand that if they see that I’ve grabbed the pot, they should grab a leaf concoction that I’ve prepared in the calabash and pour it on me. If not, if the witchcraft overtakes me, something will happen to me. So I grab the pot and they pour the medicine on me. When I lift up the pot, I have the king allow everyone to see. Seeing that in the center of the town, there is a pot, there is a pot filled with blood and something is in it like a human head, who wouldn’t suspect that it’s the blood and skull of the people killed by witches that they’ve poured there so that they can drink from it at any time. This is the cleverness that my kɔmfoɔ taught me. When I get done digging up the witchcraft, I prepare a medicine in the pot and place it outside. I have the king beat the gong-gong to call everyone so that they can bathe in the medicine and I’ll charge each of the mothers and their children a shilling and an egg, and each man will also pay two shillings. I can get money that can fill a brass pan that I use to remove the curse of the witches for the nation so that peace is restored in the town. When everyone gets done bathing in the medicine, I take the remainder to the outskirts of the town and have them bury it there to signify that I’ve stopped the deaths of the children. All of that which I’ll do scares the witches, and what some say is, “that which so-and-so and I did, he has taken his and buried outside of the town? If that be the case, if they kill any child, I won’t partake in eating it again because it will soon be revealed.” When the witches are scared like this, it will even be about three years before a child will even get a headache.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Question:   If a woman gives birth to a python, they take it to the ɔbosom for them to work on. I beg you, I’ve heard tales of it but I don’t know it very well so try to say what you know about it for us.

Answer:     Something like this has happened to me before. I was there one time when an elder called Mensa brought his wife Aboagyewaa for me to look after. As for this elder, he only fished with nsoa traps that he would set to catch crabs at a river called Afram. As for this river, it taboos daily asuasu. Asuasu means that you move about the water fishing from it and troubling it in every way. This river Afram also has plenty of pythons in it. When this man would return from fishing, he would give his catch to his wife Aboagyewaa for her to cook for them to eat. One day when this man wasn’t able to go, this wife of his set the nsoa trap in the water. And this woman was even menstruating and still went to the river, but the river taboos menstruation. At his point the river said: “Why? That haven’t shown you a sign for you to give birth and for you to stop coming to the river, you haven’t stopped troubling me.” At this point this man impregnated this woman. Exactly nine months after, this woman gave birth. When she gave birth the child was so long. His eyes were human eyes; his head was a human’s head but broad. His tongue was long and if the child sat on his mother’s lap he could turn his head all the way around. This child’s eyes were humongous and tears streamed from his eyes all the time. When this lady put some dɔkono, meat or any food there to go bathe and come back, by the time she got back this child had taken it and eaten it. At this point she reported to her grandparent that: “Nana, it’s been about nine months since I gave birth but this child can’t walk. If I sit him somewhere it doesn’t work; he sits there and tumbles over, what should we do?” The old woman looked at the lady quietly then said: “I feel pity for you.” The woman said: “In that case, let’s go to so-and-so ɔbosom there and let’s take the child to show him so that maybe the ɔbosom will be able to do something about it.” Truly, they went to the ɔbosom, and the ɔbosom said to her that: “The river that you trouble and trouble and trouble, human witches have entered into it and transformed themselves into pythons causing them to do this to you.” The woman said: “Ee Nana, in that case it is you who is doing this to me. When my husband returns from fishing I don’t give you any and because of that you and me fight about it every day that: “As for you, every day you get meat, but as for an old lady who lives at home, you don’t give me some.” The old woman said: “If it is I who has done it then, let’s go hand it over to so-and-so ɔbosom for him to let him be left alone.” The old woman said it is in the water that we leave him alone. “How do we let him be left alone?” She said: “You should prepare a brass container filled with tɔ mashed yam and eggs and you should look for seven eggs. You should ready seven guns and you should give the child to the ɔkɔmfoɔ to look after. When you go, you should drop the tɔ and eggs near the river and leave the child near the ɛtɔ. You who will shoot the guns should remain close to the town. The child’s mother should shave her head and wear white calico cloth and she should go look to see how her child will go into the water. As the child eats the ɛtɔ and eggs, when he turns no one must let him see him or her.” The child’s mother went close to one of those who would shoot the guns and what they saw was that the child looked around to see if he would see anyone. He didn’t see anyone, so he began to pick up the eggs and eat and then went on to the ɛtɔ and gobbled it all up. What I as an ɔkɔmfoɔ told them was that, when they see that this child elongates itself to go into the water, they should shoot it. True indeed, when the child finished picking up and eating the food it turned into a snake. It elongated itself and as soon as it went into the water, they fired the guns hitting it. When the child entered the water and went away they came back home. The reason why they say that any woman who births a python who the ɔkɔmfoɔ made it leave her alone depends on the witches who do all of these things. This river showed its power making humans give birth to pythons, but when this happens it means that humans have troubled the river causing the witches who are in the household to enter into it. Because of this, if you are a hunter and you kill meat and bring it home you must give some to every old woman in the house for her to eat. Meat is very necessary to witches. Anyone who says we can’t get rid of the python is lying. Because it is the witches who do this work, it is the akɔmfoɔ who get rid of the pythons making them go back to the specific place that they come from.

[Okomfo Akosua]

This is the cleverness that my kɔmfoɔ taught me.

The 3rd and 4th post are comical to say the least.  I know you are translating a book but honestly, those excerpts ARE NOT true akom and I am sure you know this.   The okomfo being referenced represents deceit and lack of integrity.  The abosom and nsamanfo of truth and justice don't tolerate akomfo like that!

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Question:   Nana Mframa, I’ve heard that an elder bought cocoa at Akorokɛre-Adansi. This elder was very rich but had a downfall. Have you heard of this story? Can you explain it to us?
 
Answer:     Yes, I’ve heard that story before. This elder, his mother was a witch. This elder finished school and went to cocoa-buying school.
 
Question:   What was this elder called?
 
Answer:     He was called Darkwa. This Darkwa’s mother, she was the one who looked after the witches’ treasury at night. So spiritually, she used the money that was in the treasury to help her child. If this child even grabbed hold of a leaf it would turn to money. This was the case for a while and one day she went to her child to go ask for one pound. When she went, her son said: “You come to me for money too much so today I don’t have anything.” He insolently insulted his mother. What his mother said was: “Okay, you who I use our treasury money to help you at night so that you get rich, this is what you’re telling me? I’ve used the profits of witchcraft to help you for you to get work to have money like this, and this is what you’re telling me? In that case, I’ll take all of your money from your hand.” True indeed, this lady used her witchcraft to make her child go into debt. It wasn’t even three days before he went into debt for £1,000. For a while he was in debt. This was the case for a while up to the point that all his money evaporated and his cocoa and possessions all vanished as well causing his downfall. At that point, one day he was sitting there in regret and he went to tell his mother: “Mother, a person like me who was well to do once and had good standing, now look what I have done. I’m going to drink poison to die, how should I proceed?” His mother said: “Let’s go to so-and-so ɔbosom.” They came to me in Pankrɔno because an old lady who is with the shrine is a witch. This elder’s mother who he came with alerted me to the fact that she was the one who was doing it. My elder made me understand that I should tell the man that he should go look for one pound and make into change in the amount of single shillings and he should look for tobacco and ammonia and he should look for palm oil and dried snail. He should take all of it and place it at the roadside and he would get back his good standing. True indeed, he placed it there and the witches came to pick it up and gave him his money back. This elder bought cocoa again and got money to construct his buildings. His clothes that he put into pawn, he went back and got what was his. Witchcraft is the pure truth.

[Tenkamenin]

Bra Kwame, Thanks for the excerpt and translation. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview, Nana Mframa was extremely witty with how he went about solving problems. How do you pull out the intestine and heart of a chicken and it still live? The science behind that is incredible! We had some very witty people who perfected there craft.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

@Tenkamenin, no problem. I found the book to be quite interesting especially with regard to the way that our people had an understanding of the interface between the physical and the psychological. A lot of his techniques were simply to convince the person to unlock their own self-healing power. At that point, the herbs and other rituals were simply academic. Yeah, apparently chickens have an intestinal grace period.

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[Tenkamenin]

"And if the ɔkɔmfoɔ has a spirit to stand behind it, and uses it, it (the sickness) will go."

That is deep! The spirit is such an important element of the Kmtyw personhood.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

@Tenkamenin, good observation.

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[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Okomfo Akosua;61046 wrote: The 3rd and 4th post are comical to say the least.  I know you are translating a book but honestly, those excerpts ARE NOT true akom and I am sure you know this.   The okomfo being referenced represents deceit and lack of integrity.  The abosom and nsamanfo of truth and justice don't tolerate akomfo like that!

I think you don't understand akɔm. For many recent christian converts it is just christ-insanity with a thin veneer of Blackface over the top, but those conceptions don't really transfer and I am sure you know this. The excerpts show a deep understanding of psychosomatic 'spiritual' illnesses and how to address them in creative ways.

[kwame_nyankopon]

Interesting education

kwame_nyankopon

[Csalaam]

Meda ase pa ara

Susudua a wode susu ɔpɛ a nnipa wɔ wɔ faahodie ho gyina nsonsonoeɛ a ɛda wɔn amammerɛ ne wɔn nhyɛsoɔfoɔ amammerɛ ntam so.

You measure a people's potential for liberation based on how different their culture is from their oppressors

 - Amilcar Cabral