The Soul of Urban Culture

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african continuities

GHANA, SPIRIT AND SERVICE

By Kwasi Kafele

“Bosom Po” is the Twi name for the deity of the sea. The Akan people of West Africa believe that deities called Abosom (“Bosom” is the singular noun) are exemplified in caves, rivers and oceans. Abosom are part of the sacred constellation of spirit energy that makes up Creation. In addition to deities, this constellation includes the living, the yet to be born, those who have transitioned back to the spirit world (Ancestors- Nananom Nsamanfo), Mother Earth (Assase Yaa) and the Creator (Nyame).

On this clear, warm night in Cape Coast, Ghana, the Atlantic Ocean is frothing and foaming, swelling, cresting and crashing about. We are sitting in our bus in silence, all dressed in white at 2am in the morning waiting to continue our reverie with ourselves. We listen to the tumult of the sea a few yards away from us. Earlier that day, our group had visited the dungeons in Cape Coast and Elmina. We have not debriefed as yet as members are still processing the experience. It was a hard day; one filled with pain, high emotion and deep reverence. Some have not stopped crying since we let the dungeons. I suspect that many in the group are experiencing a profound shift of consciousness. Our group’s meditation that day was on strength and resilience. We agreed that we must embody the spirit of Ankobia: Spirit warriors for our people; leaders for justice, balance and progressive development.

The sea is still angry and restive; seemingly increasing the intensity of its rage. We wait for Nana Eduakwa who is preparing to conduct an ocean healing ceremony with us. Nana is the powerful Chief of Atonkwa Traditional Area close to Cape Coast. He is a dignified, humble man of incredible social stature who has graciously offered to lead us on this part of our journey. We are extremely fortunate as this is not a common occurrence.

Nana has a special sensibility to the pain and circumstance of Afrikans in the Diaspora as someone who has traveled extensively and studied in the West. He addresses the group with a calm, mellifluous, reassuring tone, one filled with kindness and understanding. We cross the street to the ocean with our fruit and candles. Our libation circle has powerful vibrations. We give thanks for being fortunate, for being blessed and for the opportunity to reconnect our circle as Afrikans. After pouring our libations, some of us are sobbing, some are singing and some are humming. We are all rocking together in the circle. With the wind, our candles lit, incense in the ground around us and the deep indigo of the African night as a backdrop to our white outfits, we must have been a compelling sight to an outsider.

Nana is gently exhorting us to let our emotions flow freely, to move with however the spirit was moving us. An incredible thing has happened. The angry, frothing ocean has stopped its assault and now is completely calm. The tides subside as if in communion with our energy. We stay in the circle, tightly bonded to each other. I shiver with many emotions; with pain and with the warm, reassuring feeling of community, peace and solidarity.

In our offerings, we acknowledge that this is a historic and powerful moment for our community as there will not be another 200th commemoration of the abolition of the British Trans- Atlantic slave trade, nor another group of Afrikans from Toronto doing this in this way.

Earlier at the hotel, we had remarked on how entirely arbitrary this “commemoration” is. There is no particular significance for the number 200 and we agreed that it certainly was not an anniversary in the common understanding of the term. Every day is a “commemoration” of the invidious impact of slavery on Afrikan people as we struggle with its on-going residuals: systemic racism and white supremacy, poverty, psychological and spiritual dislocation, various health crises and violence across the globe for Afrikan people.

We had reflected on how critical our spiritual strength has been in our survival as a people. Our collective ethos as Afrikans has kept us grounded and anchored and has ensured our survival over close to 500 years of Maafa (the disaster). Combined with our African cultural values and behavior, our collective ethos has helped to symbolize our uniqueness as a people. Europeans and some Afrikans (those dislocated from themselves) often emphasize our superficial losses - language, dress, living patterns, etc., as proof that we are different people.

Africa survives in our spiritual makeup and our collective unconscious. It is the strength and depth of our spirituality and humanism that continue to womb us, to enable us to reconnect so easily with our brothers and sisters in Ghana on the deepest levels possible. Until we realize that the emphasis of differences between us serves the objectives of our enemies, we will continue to be politically and ideologically confused.

Our journey as Yensomu to Ghana with 21 Afrikans was an attempt to build on our common consciousness as Afrikans and to explore our possibilities using two approaches: our commitment to material development and capacity building work with brothers and sisters on the ground and our continued spiritual exploration and growth.

Through Yensomu’s youth and children projects, our connection to the Motherland, our root, and our communion with families across Ghana has been imbued not with romantic, unrealistic notions of Africa but often by the hard edges of poverty and social isolation and by the crushing weight of gender oppression. Our work and connection with communities in Ejisu, Abankuro and Manya Krobo therefore had an urgency of focus and clarity of purpose. Yet everywhere we went, these problems and challenges were circled by incredible love and deep generosity and by the open, beautiful joy of Africans who routinely and creatively do more with less. We were at once reminded of how incredibly privileged we are as Afrikans in the Diaspora, despite our problems, and how connected we are because of the commonalities of challenge we face.

Bosom Po is calling us gently to feed. We individually find our separate spaces and offer up fruit to the deity all the while giving thanks, communing and connecting with reverence. I sit in stillness and completely open up my spirit. I am crying again, with tears of pain and tears of triumph. I float across the broad sweep of our history and the incredible strength of our people. I think about all my Ancestors who fought so heroically and who lived so purposefully, and whose spirits continue to gird me up every day. I am blessed. By now, the sea is completely calm and we feel like we are one. Bosom Po is pleased. We leave at peace.

Ase.

Kwasi Kafele is founder of Yensomu and a long time Toronto community organizer, educator and youth advocate. He is currently completing a PhD on the impact of racism, violence and poverty on the mental health of African Canadian male youth. He was recently enstooled as Chief of Youth Development (Manoyam Matse) in Manya Krobo, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, the first Non-Krobo to be so honoured. .