I have been doing some research on sickle cell anaemia and its dominace in West African cultures and are now going to see if there is any correlation to this disease with the so called myths of Ogbanjes in Igbo culture.

It seems to be the most plausible explanation for the occurence of Ogbanje stories in the Igbo and most likely the Yoruba culture. I will begin research with the Igbos as there is more reference to this in books such as "Things fall apart" and so on.

What I noticed was that these so called Ogbanje's were said to be mischievious beings who would be born into families and would give theris hosts a hell of time by falling sick all the time and eventually dying prematurely only to come back again in another family to do the same thing.

What do you think?

And you believe this yourself? Nothing I won't hear on this site.

LOL, you must be a comedian,

bolyjoe:

LOL, you must be a comedian,

And you must be a dummy not to understand the relevance unexplained diseases have had with African spiritual and religious practices.

Need I mention Albino sacrifices in east Africa for your block head!

U should pass for the Diamond award for best Comedian of the Year! _{ogbanje ko sickle cellar ni olodo}

ernal:

U should pass for the Diamond award for best Comedian of the Year! _{ogbanje ko sickle cellar ni olodo}

I can see I am dealing with some really unintellectual morons who are replying my post.

maybe I should ask some of you what Sickle cell anameia is?

OP,

Your hypothesis is plausible but I wonder where you would get 'samples' from.Africans are known to attribute anything they can't readily explain as 'supernatural'. Any proof to show that 'ogbanje' children were sufferers of sickle cell anaemia would at best be circumstantial.

I would be pleased if anyone can bring some scientific evidence to buttress your point because it is something I think biology can explain.


To the others, why do you think the OP's idea is laughable? Could you explain why you think this idea is insanely dumb or should we just continue in our usual attitude of not questioning what we do not understand? ehn . . . . graduates?

ow11:

OP,

Your hypothesis is plausible but I wonder where you would get 'samples' from.Africans are known to attribute anything they can't readily explain as 'supernatural'. Any proof to show that 'ogbanje' children were sufferers of sickle cell anaemia would at best be circumstantial.

I would be pleased if anyone can bring some scientific evidence to buttress your point because it is something I think biology can explain.


To the others, why do you think the OP's idea is laughable? Could you explain why you think this idea is insanely dumb or should we just continue in our usual attitude of not questioning what we do not understand? ehn . . . . graduates?

You are quite right the initial evidence will be circumstantial. however I am trying to gather further info from possible sources to corraborate. I am in the beginnigg stages of studying the subject matters concerned. My best sources at this point are books and references. I am also looking at SC symptoms and the percentages of cases between male and females to match against reports of typical characteristics of so called Ogbanjes.

I have been looking at ongoing cases of child witch cases in Akwa Ibom to correlate for possible similarities with mind sets of ehtnic groups andhow cerain situations are explaiend using superstitious beliefs and religion.

I am looking for like minded people who have thought about such possibilities to stare me in the right direction.

Thanks

@poster
i agree with you,though im not too sure myself, must say im intrigued as that assertion sounds really plausible another example is burst blood vesel in the brain and its corellation with the belief that he/she was called from the dream cause of the symptons of sudden death

lucabrasi:

@poster
i agree with you,though I'm not too sure myself, must say I'm intrigued as that assertion sounds really plausible another example is burst blood vesel in the brain and its corellation with the belief that he/she was called from the dream cause of the symptons of sudden death

I'll keep you posted. I should e posting something quite shortly

I thought that SC was the reason why "ogbanjes" existed in Igbo culture. :/

Morpheus I think you are right. I read something about this some years ago and it makes perfect sense. I don't know why people find it hard to believe it.

morpheus24 is right. It's a pity Nigerians are as backward as they are.

@morpheus24
still waiting for the write up, judging by your stance on the issue of ogbanjes, just curious, do you agree or disagree that african voodoo or juju is real?and do you think there is a chance of a sickness being as a result of something diabolic?even if we are agreed that most have a simple scientific explanation

lucabrasi:

@morpheus24
still waiting for the write up, judging by your stance on the issue of ogbanjes, just curious, do you agree or disagree that african voodoo or juju is real?and do you think there is a chance of a sickness being as a result of something diabolic?even if we are agreed that most have a simple scientific explanation

Diablical my fat bottom! Dunno how people cannot see simple obvious facts. Ogbanje were cases of sickle cell but those days there were no tests, no medicare and so cases lingered.
Wonder how you got to Manchester, by diabolic means?

morpheus24:

I have been doing some research on sickle cell anaemia and its dominace in West African cultures and are now going to see if there is any correlation to this disease with the so called myths of Ogbanjes in Igbo culture.

It seems to be the most plausible explanation for the occurence of Ogbanje stories in the Igbo and most likely the Yoruba culture. I will begin research with the Igbos as there is more reference to this in books such as "Things fall apart" and so on.

What I noticed was that these so called Ogbanje's were said to be mischievious beings who would be born into families and would give theris hosts a hell of time by falling sick all the time and eventually dying prematurely only to come back again in another family to do the same thing.

What do you think?

It's very possible that ogbanje are SC sufferers. I've not heard cases of ogbanje in recent times but the cases of SC abound.
Most likely with the recent knowledge of SC anaemia in Igboland, those that were, in the olden days, called ogbanje are now simply sent for SC treatment.

Amazing. I suppose Thalassaemia, which is sort of the Asian "version" of Sickle Cell is caused by ogbanjes in Asia, Mediterranean Region and parts of Italy.
I guess people with Sickle cell traits are semi ogbanjes too considering they have one mutated hemoglobin gene for sickle cell anemia.
SMH.
Bad enough they have sickle cell, now they have to be labelled as ogbanjes too .

The only part that is yet to be cleared up in this whole Ogbanje = SC study is the part that some children who were considered to be ogbanje were given huge body marks so that their parents could identify them if they should come back to them again.

These children stories has it that they do 'come back' again with the same body mark that was given to them in their previous life.

I know of one old woman in my village who has a big cut on her left ear, it was said that her parents gave her the mark in her previous life. Some children have their names tatooed on their body, stories have it that they still come back with it in their next life.

So it may be possible that many Ogbanje children were SC sufferers, but not all

STORIES like you said. None of that has ever been documented. I am sure if it really did happen then people will still be coming back today with tattoos from their previous lives. Just show us one and we will all shut up

Are you suggesting that the stories of children coming back with body marks was not true?

I was hoping to get a clarification of why it happened or what it was that happened back in those days

you should do an ethnography to find out. In the process, you may even find out somethings else that may have never come across your mind before.

Sorry guys haven't replied this thread in a while. My research was extremely limited by the lack of information I could gather on the subject matter in Nigeria  However I have discovered thatthe internet is abound with information concering Ogbanje's and sickle cell correlations.

I am therefore not alone in the aobservaton that the two situations may be related.

There is in fact information out there on studies that have been conducted to observation situations which make the scenarios both plausible and possible.


Symptoms Ogbanjes exihibited are extremely similar to that of sickle cell patients

Chronic illnesses with convulsions and fever like states
Death at puberty (if left untreated)
Reoccurence in subsequent offspring leading to the iyi uwa( Come and go) myth

see below references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogbanje
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11286364
http://sicklecellanemia.ca/about_sicklecell.php

youngies:

Are you suggesting that the stories of children coming back with body marks was not true?

I was hoping to get a clarification of why it happened or what it was that happened back in those days

This is precisely what I am suggesting. There is no evidence to support the exact body marks other than possible birth marks usually duplicated in related offspring.

if this were true why is this not repeated in present times to assert the myth,

Have you also considered that there were children who were believed to be ogbanje then , but after persistent parent's appeals which were backed up with huge gifts and sacrifices, the child may decide to stay back and live to old age?

youngies:

Have you also considered that there were children who were believed to be ogbanje then , but after persistent parent's appeals which were backed up with huge gifts and sacrifices, the child may decide to stay back and live to old age?

Right right If I believe that I might as well also believe in Amadioha the God of thunder that persistently struck people down with lightening when he felt like it don't you think?

??

I completely agree with the poster . . .

I also noticed the similarities b/w the two (Ogbanje myth and the SS disease) . .

My grand parents always though they were having ogbanje's . . . out of their 13 children, only 5 survived - infant mortality!

They believed their children were being taken away and then brought back to life, as the ogbanje saga described. This was until we realized that out of the 5 children left, 3 were AS and one was AA and one was SS. Apparently, the ones dying were sicklers . . . 

The SS later died at childbirth at the age of 32.

My grand ma also had 9 children and only 3 survived and those 3 were AS II think. She also thought she was having spirit children. Though then, it wasnt confirmed they were SS but looking back now and being AS myself cos I inherit the gene from my father. I believe, sickle cell was responsible for the deaths of my uncles and aunts at such young age.

Confirmation after 5 years that my observations are beind considered in the medical circle see below interview. Feels good to be vindicated. see below attachment from a cnn interview

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/11/world/africa/bosede-afolabi-sickle-cell-anemia/index.html