'The African Kid'

Juju, Superstition and Tricks

proffelio — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:28:30 +0000

Most people ask, is Juju real? Do you believe in it? Etc. This is a very interesting topic which I in particular am very careful, and choose my words when debating, explaining or discussing this topic. First let me quote a verse from the Holy books, Ephesians 6:12 ; “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” So the Bible definitely declares this to be so and gives important information which points to the presence among us of evil personalities who are extremely active in the affairs of men and nations today.

So what is this juju we are talking about. Juju is a word of West African origin that refers to the supernatural power ascribed to an object such as a fetish, a charm, periapt, phylactery, talisman or an amulet. It can also be described as a small object worn or kept for its supposed magical power. I believe the western world call it Voodoo which originated from West Africa due to the importation of African slaves.

Now let’s get technical and funny. How many of you have seen a bird turn into a human (LIVE) ?? How many of you have seen a REAL witch Doctor ?? How many of you have seen a charm that’s tied around the waist?? Fellas, I am not talking about the movies !! I mean “feelefele – slang meaning seen or witness” Speaking for myself I haven’t witness any of the above and I want it to stay so, but I have heard countless times of other peoples experiences. People say it can only work if you believe in it. That can be false and at the same time true, we all have the choice of believing what we want but one thing you don’t want to do is challenge the fact that it doesn’t exist.

There’s a dark side of the spiritual world which people are ignorant about. Our ignorance starts from trying to judge everything by our sense of feel, touch and smell. Education doesn’t change some fundamental things, I know we can explain so many things because of our level of education but DEFINITELY there are many things that you can’t explain but they exist. I have friends who grew up in the rural areas and have witnessed mishappenings through use of diabolical charms, rings, talismans etc. Are we saying those charms won’t work if used on a white man or someone who doesn’t believe in it? Come on guys.!!! These things are deeper than our feeble minds can grasp. Our level of education and enlightenment affects how we perceive things in life, but we shouldn’t conclude out of our little or no experience in life about his topic. People have walked these dark paths and we should listen to them. But believing it or not is your own cup a tea.

Let me narrow this to where I hail from, Ghana. This is the interesting part. Juju over the internet. We have heard and for some seen most of these juju men in their prime. From the Okomfo Anokyes to whoever. But this one who just surfaced has his game on another level. He even has a website and claims he can help with financial burdens, Visas, marriage, lunacy, impotency, protection, bareness and even REVENGE “ Seriously people, let’s try and forgive each other, it’s that simple. This fella is charging top bucks for Revenge consultation. Lmao”. This dreaded fetish Priest in an interview confessed; I can conjure money from nowhere, I can plant a palm tree and make it grow that same day. He went on to claim that he has given over a thousand pastors in Ghana power to perform miracles. He has even accepted a challenge from one of his critics who had dared him in a battle of supernatural powers. This so called challenge is suppose to kick off at the early hours of the 15th of this month. Since he was been told this pastor can make the blind see, he is going to see the authorities of the School of the Blind in the Eastern Region of Ghana to bring a busload of blind people and also arrange for two busloads of the deaf and dumb plus a bus load of cripples.

Is ESPN sports telecasting this live??

At the end of the day one has to make their choice to what to believe in. For me I believe of the existence of lesser forces and powers, but the almighty God supersedes all these lesser gods. He is above principalities and powers. At the mention of his name every knee bows. That’s what I was raised up on and that’s what I believe.

I pointed out to you the stars and all you saw was the tip of my finger

Basil A. Amaah

The Golden Stool “Myth or Truth”

proffelio — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:42:55 +0000

Readers this is just a discussion and my opinion. Don’t go and Juju me. But for real, I have thought about these so called happenings, which I believe we all had to study in primary school, about the olden days. If the elders (hehehe) will pardon me to mention Okomfo Anokye , Osei Tutu and the Golden stool.

Before I continue let me take some time, for the benefits of those who don’t know the history or story behind the people and object mentioned above. Legend has it that, Okomfo Anokye (A High Priest) caused the famous Asante royal throne known as the Golden stool(believed to be covered with pure gold) to descend from the heavens and land on the lap of the first Asante king, Osei Tutu. Such seats were traditionally symbolic of a chieftain’s leadership, but the Golden Stool is believed to house the spirit of the Asante nation, both living, dead and yet to be born. This Stool is a curved seat 46 cm high with a platform 61 cm wide and 30 cm deep.

I am not saying I belief these happenings or not, but if Okomfo Anokye really did conjure this stool from the sky in broad day light then I beat on my chest and say Harry Houdini has nothing on him. This even gets more interesting, not only did he summon the Golden Stool from the Heavens to land in front of the man who would become the first Asantehene (King of all Ashanti). He actually buried in the ground to the hilt a sword where he summoned this stool which till date all attempt to getting the sword out of the ground has become impossible. Now, my comrades, this is getting annoying. I can understand that we don’t want to remove this sword because legend has it that the Ashanti kingdom will be destroyed if the sword is ever removed. But telling me all attempts came to nothing trying to remove this sword is pretty insulting. I know trees grow roots not swords.

Just got off the phone with my Dad and he said with a laugh, this same Okomfo Anokye carved Oware holes “a game” out of a bare stone slab and he climbed a tall palm tree with his sandals on. Dude! Big deal, if he had these modern tools at his disposal he would have used them. He had no other option. I was in Ghana early this year and I can bet on anything that I saw someone climb a palm tree wearing timberlands and stunna shades. My friend Randy even told me years back that he knows of this one guy who has no legs, “pop willys” with his Harleys. (I can’t believe he expected me to believe that.) This to me sounds like a stunt. So was Okomfo Anokye a stunt man or what? Let’s ask the Old Lady about this one.

I vote that we should have a second coming of this Okomfo Anokye man, this time not to conjure stools from the sky but to conjure fire to consume all those puppet leaders and politicians on the continent of Africa. Let me deviate for a minute; Robert Gabriel Mugabe has served as the head of government in Zimbabwe since 1980, since before I was born and this clown still contested for the past presidential election and won. You tell me Jesus turning water into wine is a miracle? Well for your information this beats that. Let’s discuss this Puppet in another article. But if someone can petition to have this great Okomfo Anorkye priest and Chaka Zulu to come back and conjure fire to rain on these folks please do. Matter of fact I know someone who can help. This Nigerian Juju man. ( I see you Kazzeem. LOL )

As I said this is just me trying to make sense of history and stories told to me growing up. I am not saying these should not be taught to our kids in school, they should so they know about it. They can then make sense of it when they grow up.

” You can learn wisdom at your grandfather’s feet, or at the end of a stick“

Basil A. Amaah

Tongue Shifting & Twisting

proffelio — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:44:04 +0000

I remember my mum pulling me into a close hug and a kiss before leaving for the airport. She whispered into my skin holding me desperately ” don’t forget yourself, don’t forget me, don’t forget where you coming from, don’t become them”. Incorporating these words into my daily existence is often a precocious juggling act.

There was immense relief in me the day I received my student visa, mostly because it had been such an arduous process. It’s that feeling of being chosen, one of the few “saved”. Several years down the road that relief constipates itself into a very complicated mélange of guilt, loneliness and a sense of loss, often profound.

We the younger generations much discuss our evolving culture, understand it and apply it by creating a viable net of mass communication. Knowing only my own story, it’s the primary lens through which I understand and share my musings about the world, and in that vein I know my experience here in the United States has been a heavy mix of confusing and conflicting choices of self and identity. Of all the choices I have to make on a daily basis, none is more important, than the way I choose to speak – to my friends, families, to Ghanaians, to Americans. I am talking about cadence, not language.

I was on the phone recently taking to my twin brother while having dinner with some friends, most of them American. My twin and I have a habit of getting loud in conversations, falling into lengthy ranting, which is a mix of our hybrid-Ga, outrageous inside jokes, and general nonsense. At the end of the call, someone commented on how different I had sounded on the phone as opposed to When I spoke in person. It took me over an hour to explain how it’s possible that I could sound different to her than with my brother.

Many people do not often grasp how easy it is to sound American. Perhaps it’s that they cannot grasp the reality of being plunged into a culture that’s not your own. I believe most Africans have had this classic interaction; you introduce yourself, mention your name and instantly there is confusion on the face looking to you, few minute down the conversation you will hear it, ” Your English is so good.” Of course they don’t mean your grammar; they mean to say “your American is so good.” I often want to say, ” Well it has to be.” But these days I just re-direct the conversation.

Those African who arrive here in their adopted lands at a younger age adapt quite well to the local dialect, usually as a reactionary means of survival. You can only be mocked so often in the cafeteria till you catch on. Whatever may be the reason for someone to want to sound American, the reality gives birth to many permutations of “Ghana-speak” so much so that it never seizes to thrill me secretly. It is one of those trills which excites and frightens you simultaneously. There we are, secret agents amongst the local people, able to “tongue shift” and blend, evolve into ever more interesting versions of blackness, yet hidden. This is sometimes fun but there is also great danger. The danger of forgetting what yesterday has to give to today. For me there is a small amount of SHAME. I feel I have sometimes disowned my mother when I try to speak like an American, or try hard not to let my ”RICH” African accent out and heard, just to fit in.

I have learned to balance the duality of speaking ” Ghanaian -English ” with my family over the phone or at gatherings and speaking “American” with the outside world. It’s a feature most of us have on automatic at this point. The danger for most will come when one no longer have a place to go back to, when you lose yourself to the American way without returning to the African pool for replenishment. To become the true complicated identities we embody so effortlessly, we have to take a step back. I will not be so technical as to instruct when to use Pidgin English or mix Ga, or Twi, or Fante, or Ewe, or Hausa, or whatever, into your English. I will only say do it once a while so as to not lose your old tongue, and not lose your past. Only then will you be a victim.

“Taking from the past with a firm eye on the future, only empowers you.”

Basil A. Amaah