₦airaland Forum

The headline says the victim is "Soludo's kinsman", but the report is unsure if the victim and Soludo are related. What a misleading headline.

Colonialism has its merits and demerits in Africa.

Merits: It ushered in Christianity.

Demerits: Materialism

Why we’ve invaded Ghana
By Emmanuel Mayah
Thursday, March 12, 2009


Marcia learning to process papmoil
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Defying gravity was never the lifetime ambition of Marcia Briggs. Becoming a devout devotee of an African religion was nothing she ever thought she was capable of; much more exhibit same in her resume. And if she must have an alter ego, then it must be Black American novelist Toni Morrison, or redoubtable poet Maya Angelou.

So the 19- year-old African American was hard put to explain her obsession with rural African life and her journey across seas to a rustic village in Ghana where she had come to reconnect with a past life she believed she had lived over 400 years ago.

Unwilling to make herself an easy target of cynics or provide her family the slightest excuse to drag her to a shrink, Marcia was determined to exploit any route to communicate an inner truth welling inside her. Like duck to water, she took to village life and proved herself a fast learner in picking up domestic skills like stirring corn meal called tizet, walking to the river to do her laundry and pounding yams in mortar. She has keenly participated in processing of palm oil, again sweating it out at the mortar with huge pots sitting on open fires, and done virtually everything including fetching firewood from a distant farm that no one can confuse any more this young woman from Georgia for a tourist.

Now, after three weeks in Bunbonayili village, Marcia has become something of a legend and might as well become Ghana’s Susan Wenger- the Austrian woman who journeyed to Nigeria and ended up the priestess of a river deity. Curiously, the African American student is not alone in a journey many Blacks often take to find a bit of their own heritage in the history of slavery.

Emotional purity
Very few ideas ever hit the ground running. But then, very few ideas ever come running to you whilst you are in a dream. The Joseph Project- the Black Diaspora homecoming initiative that brought Marcia Briggs to Ghana- bears all the marks of a dreamer, particularly one who understands that in the Pan-African marketplace, you can easily defy gravity if the basic commodity is emotion.

It is the kind of soul-stirring emotion that inspired years ago the hit song, Going Back to my Root. It was the same emotion that got many African Americans so misty-eyed that apparently taking the song by its words, they began to hop on airplanes to destinations across the continent.

Rita Marley, widow of reggae idol Bob Marley, made Nigeria her first pitch. Conned out of her dollars and a coveted home in Badagry, she relocated to Ghana. Dozens of Black diasporans have since come in Rita’s wake, from far-flung places as the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, United Kingdom, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Europe, St Lucia and the largest of them all, the US. Not a few have since adopted Ghanaian names. At such, it is not much of a shock to find that American Joan Brown of ETA Magical Theatre in Chicago now goes by the Ghanaian name, Abena.

Today in Ghana, you can find a group of ‘white’ foreigners everywhere, even in a yam market. But Ghana was not just a happenstance. Like the biblical Israelites, someone has sold to African Americans and Blacks in different Diasporas, the idea of a spiritual homeland and that of all the countries in West Africa, Ghana is the authentic root of slave descendants. Not satisfied with the occasional half-a-dozen diasporan tourists that appear in Ghana’s capital and countryside hoping someone would recognize them as lost relatives, someone has come up with an initiative that gives Ghana a large scale appeal as a spiritual rather than tourist destination. It is called the Joseph Project and it has got off to a flying start.

The Joseph Project
As every Muslim must strive to visit Mecca, at least once in a lifetime, so has the Joseph Project been conceived as a pilgrimage to Ghana, and one that every African in the Diaspora must undertake at least once in a lifetime.

But why Ghana, anyone is wont to ask. The country’s tourism board is quick to point out that beyond the poignant experience of the slave trade, Ghana was the first African colony south of the Sahara to gain its independence, drawing inspiration from the fight for the full emancipation of Africans worldwide, especially the Civil Rights struggle in the US in the 1950s and 60s. It said that even after Nkrumah, Ghana has continued to fight for the full emancipation of all Africans everywhere.

On a recent visit to Ghana, MIDWEEK Magazine gathered that for the visiting Diasporans the Ghanaian government forbid anyone to call them tourists, preferring instead words like ‘pilgrims, brothers or sisters’.
The Joseph Project is part of an elaborate plan to establish Ghana as the homeland for Africans in the diaspora. The project takes its name from the story of the Biblical Joseph who was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brethren but triumphed over all adversity.

The country is reaching out to Diasporan Africans who have yearned for years to return to the motherland but have not been able to do so. According to Ghana’s Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, the programme is aimed at reaching out to the brothers and sisters who were forcibly uprooted from Africa and have been lost to their homeland for more than 400 years. “The Joseph project is an outreach of the Ghana Government to start the process to see how we can better come together to lift ourselves up. It is the reuniting of the African family so that their positive spirit and strengths are used to emancipate Africa and Africans worldwide.”

Ritual bath
In Ghana, it is common to find a horde of tourists, especially African Americans, wailing before the walls of Elmina Slave Fort. When they are not doing that, be sure to find them scouring other heritage sites in Cape Coast, all well-kept relics of distasteful history and all providing staggering testaments to one of the most harrowing periods in the history of humankind. It is these relics that provide the raw materials for Ghana’s third largest revenue earner popularly known as the Joseph Project.

In the infamous Elmina Slave Castle, there is a door marked “Door of No Return”. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of slaves were led through this door en route to hard labour in Europe and America. The Joseph Project is Ghana’s invitation to the descendants of those slaves to make the return journey, to reconnect with the land of their ancestors.

MIDWEEK Magazine gathered that ritual exercises included the arrival of slave descendants through the Door of No Return. Prayers are held by Christian leaders, Muslim leaders and traditional priests. What is called the African Anthem, Nkosi Sikele Africa, is sung by the Winneba Youth Choir. A healing ritual follows in the form of poignant African songs.

The climax is the shedding of symbolic mourning clothes that sees the returnee enrobed in equally symbolic welcome clothes. At this point, those who wish to take a new African name can so do. Marcia has added Ama to her names. These days, when she is not pursuing a new interest in her adopted village, she is lazing along long stretches of coastal lands with bone-white beaches or climbing the Monkey Hill in the heart of the twin city of Sekondi-Takoradi.

As any visitor would quickly finds out, the Ghanaian hospitality is legendary. Even though the country has not one drop-dead, big-name attraction, the sort of place other tourists or friends will say you have to see once in a lifetime, an equivalent of Kilimanjaro or Pyramids of Egypt, it has many enriching cultural and historical attractions.

Oburonti
Marcia’s spirit is so effervescent it is easy to tell the 19-year-old is very much at peace in her new world. If she has any difficulty, it is getting used to the giggles of the natives who call her Oburonti, Ghanaian word for Oyinbo. Happy as the villagers are to have her live amongst them, they cannot help sometimes to feel the American is merely celebrating the beauty of ugliness. Understandably, their view of village life is standard and scandalous. For them it is hard to reconcile the reality of a young woman working hard to be a villager while the real villagers themselves are daily seeking escape route, sometimes through the Sahara desert, to greener pastures overseas.

Before she came to Ghana, Marcia says she was sold to the country by the influences of Veryl Howard, the Black American woman who coordinates the American end of The Joseph Project. Veryl is also part of the success story of the movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

Marcia also points at her interactions with such Ghanaian women like singer/songwriter Nya Jade and Akosua Busia, a Ghanaian actress based in the United States. The daughter of Kofi Abrefa Busia, the ex-prime minister of Ghana, Akosua’s film roles include a notable performance as Nettie in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple- a film that also starred Oprah Winfrey- and as Patience in Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun. Akosua has a novel, The Seasons of Beento Blackbird. In addition, she was one of three writers who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved. Her sister is the poet and academic Abena Busia. Marcia plays to visit Ghana as often as possible, to learn one or two dialects and to return finally in the next six years.



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/mar/12/national-12-03-2009-12.htm

TVO1 and Pataki, great answers. I do agree that violent prayers should be directed against spiritual forces, not human beings, no matter how wicked they are.

There should be laws in Nigeria to overhaul this modern day slavery of househelps.

ghosts are actually demonic spirits sent by the devil to deceive the mourners. Bobbyaf is actually correct in saying that these ghosts are from the devil. When a man dies, they dont have any contact with the living in the world.

Once, in high school, there was this story circulating that a students' school fees was always paid for by an unknown person. This was always revealed to the father when he would swing by to pay his son's school fees. Later on, rumors circulated that the boy's mother was paying him visits in the dormitory. But she was already dead, a story confirmed by the boy, and according to others, by his father. Who was telling the truth? I dont know, probably the mother was alive, and the boy had no clue about it, or it was one of those demonic spirits coming to my school to deceive the boy, or just a big fat lie. But the lies could not be dismissed, because some students claimed they saw her.

EyenEfik:
nto akpabuyo,  mma mpong obio efik ke 2005,  nke si dung ke calabar south,     but ndu ke mbidmbid obio idahaami, 

efere affang akak mi sef, mme yene affang eka ami ake nnode me idaha nke kade calabar ke december,  idaha ami nyom ekpangnkukwo,

Hmmm, ekpangnkukwo? Ami nyom ekpangkukwo Ikpong (cocoyam). Ekpedi anye atighade owo (if it is the one that itches), da mmo, biom ke ibuot fo, fiak ben efen, nim ke ubok nnasia, ye ubok ufien, ndien kwo ikwo. Edoho ate ke iditghake fi aba.

LOL

Na wao!

If this story is true, then the decision to purchase an aircraft worth about 4 billion Naira is totally crass and definitely without merit, especially in this dire economic times. And this is from the same pastor who had affirmed that he wont worship at Joshua's Church. And now, he bought an aircraft?


I really do think that there are some members of Redeemed Church who have reservation over this profligacy.

EyenEfik:
Mme kom o ndito eka mi,  ,

Atiedidie? Afo ato mmong, eyen efik? Nke si dung ke Calabar, ke efak tied akere "Asang Eniong" ke Goldie. Ndi, among abok efere afang ano nyin

EyenEfik:
@ Poster

I sometimes wonder about that too but thankfully I have a very understanding man who isn't bugged down by all this traditional societal norms.

However, this isn't a big deal. Whether you take up his name or you keep your dad's name, its being with the man you love that matters. I'll love to keep ma daddy's name but my relationship with my boo takes precedence over such trivial matters.  

Excellent!

Lets hope that the end result is not an elephant project as is common in Nigeria.

By the way, what happened to the overhyped Tinapa of Cross River State?

If life wasnt better abroad, you can be rest assured that majority of Nigerians, including illegal immigrants would have returned back home by now.

Sha, the man tried for his people during his lifetime. As someone mentioned, free education and health care. Maybe, we would have been better off as a nation if the man had been allowed to rule Nigeria.

I read one headline that the book on Awolowo will come like a thief in the night. I know that among some of the awoist, there was this belief that he would come back to life after his death (so I read in one of the papers back home) The reverence accorded this man is way too much. He was a mere mortal like all human beings. Give it a rest!

huxley:
The majority of contributors to this thread are a disgrace to commonsense and exemplifies the very mentality that creates the problem - the tendency to congregate along ethnic and religious lines.  It is this mentality that is at the root of the problems and by calling for "Black Africa"  to stand up for their own only fuels  the them-and-us mentality.  Right thinking people of all shade should come together, not under the banner of Black Africa or any such defunct titles, to oppose the immoral government of Sudan.

Africans should join heads together and solve this crisis in Sudan and Uganda, to prove to the outsiders that we are capable of governing ourselves. While it's noble for outsiders to put a face to these problems, like Clooney on Darfur, Africa should step upto the plate. We just cant be looking to the west for aid, immigration, to be our intercessors, and then finger out colonialism as the leading cause of the problems of Africa. It's like calling outsiders to solve the internal conflict in your neighborhood.

ayobase:
Jesus is the ultimate!!!

Amen!

Akaraoku$:
@ Sage & Davidylan
You guys have a made a world of sense on this topic!Yea rite , if women could cry for gender equality and the likes ,why would they not be cool with 50:50 ratio especially where they contributed financially in the marriage before it went sour?
Marriage really has lost its true essence ,why marry your patner when you know you don't totally trust him/her?As far as i know a prenup is a contract marriage, and IMHO would not advise anyone man/woman to get involved!
Marriage for me is a life journey and has intrinsic worth!

I totally agree with your views that drawing up a prenuptial agreement is essentially a sign that trust is lacking in the marriage. But when gold diggers view marriage as another avenue to get rich quickly, can you still blame folks for insisting on a prenup before tying the knots? Paul Mccartney got into his marriage, I believe with good intentions, hence his decision not to have Heather Mills sign a prenup, despite opposition from his kids. Four years later, they divorced and he had to give up over 40 million dollars to her. Yet, according to published reports, she was demanding for a higher amount.

Still, I respect your views, and infact, feel that prenup is totally unnecessary.

I read in the papers that the government is considering enforcing property taxes on landowners in Abuja. And this report was reported in a Nigerian periodical as of last year. Does anybody have an information if this enactment has taken place? I was totally stunned when I first read it, and totally disagree with this daylight robbery.

What do you think?

No free stuff from the devil. Flee from juju, it is not worth it at all. Like one of the poster mentioned, the end result of this abominable act is always greater than the instant 'gratification.'

I have changed my mind, a man paying dowry to his bride's family is not a bad thing. It symbolizes his position as the caregiver in the family.

While househelps in Nigeria is modern day slavery, I have to admit that some of these servants have benefitted enormously from the generousity of working as hired helps, and also, their family has equally benefitted from them too. My only arguement would be to treat them fairly, pay them at least minimum wage, and give them two days off.

Dad pleads not guilty in sale of daughter case


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The Associated Press
Thursday, February 12, 2009; 8:41 AM

SALINAS, Calif. -- A California man has pleaded not guilty to aiding statutory rape in an alleged arrangement to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, beer and meat.

The prosecutor says 36-year-old Marcelino de Jesus Martinez entered pleas Wednesday to procuring a child for lewd acts, aiding and abetting statutory rape and child endangerment.

Trial is set for April 6. Martinez is in jail on an immigration hold. He lives in Greenfield, a farming community on California's central coast.

Prosecutors say Martinez and the family of Margarito de Jesus Galindo had negotiated a marriage and dowry contract.


Authorities learned of the deal after Martinez went to police to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made as promised.


Ndipe's comment: In pre-colonial times in Nigeria, wouldnt this act be sanctioned by the society at large?

No, it's a hypothetical question. And believe me, if I were in that situation, I wont even come onboard to get feedback from strangers. I would take the bulls by the horn and relocate home in a heartbeat, while living off the proceeds of my investments from time to time. Not everybody would agree with my decision, but you bet that a lot of folks who have been laid off will definitely not relocate back home, even if they had more seven figures in their retirement account.

This is hypothetical. You are in your mid thirties, happily married with two young kids and a comfortable salary in the USA when the unexpected happens. You and your wife are laid off from the job market. Days stretch into weeks, and then months with your savings dwindling and your morale slowly receding. Your spouse is pestering you to relocate back home with prospects of a better opportunity back home. You check your 401k, regularly and realize that your total asset, combined with your wife hovers close to a million dollars. A tidy sum that could go a long way in Nigeria, despite the inflation.

What do you do? Cash the money and resettle in Nigeria, or stay put in the USA and keep hoping for a new job.

Wedding bells rang this weekend for terminally ill 9-year-old
By Nikki Weingartner.
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Photo by killrbeez
A row of wedding dresses
Vote it up!



With only a few weeks left of her life, 9-year-old Jayla Cooper fulfilled a dream as friends and family watched on in bittersweet delight.
Wedding bells rang this past Sunday for a rather uncommon bride and groom, 9-year-old Jayla and her now husband, 7-year-old Jose Griggs. But this union of children isn't due to some twisted religious rite.

Jayla cooper was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago and according to doctors, has come to the end of her path. Childhood leukemia, depending upon the type, has improved with treatment over the years but there is still a rate of recidivation either due to malignancies or later recurrences.

For two years, Jayla spent her home away from home at the Children's Medical Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Dallas, TX where she met her future husband and leukemia patient, Jose when he was 5. So after two years of sharing a bond that most people will never understand, the parents of both children gave Jayla her dying wish. (see video clip in the news link here)

Following their vows of "friendship" forever, Jayla explained in a local Dallas/Ft.Worth news article:


"I love him, and it was just really important to me. I had fun dancing with my dad and with him and my granny."

On the biggest day of her life, the little girl continued to show others how to live life to the fullest, smiling brightly as she walked beside her father, Jerrod Cooper, down the isle adorned in a lovely white gown. For the time, every person in the room seemed to have set aside any feeling other than joy for the couple, grasping tightly to the moments that remain.

As for the 7-year-old groom, his mother said in the article that "he's having a hard time dealing with this" because he is aware that she is dying and he doesn't want her to "go." Jose is recovering from his leukemia.

So in an effort to fulfill as much of her child's dreams as possible, Lisa Cooper continues to give her daughter all that she can so that her last days here on earth are more than hospital beds and distressed family members.

The happy couple spent their honey moon at Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor family waterpark in Grapevine, TX complete with waterslides, kiddie spa and arcade. A honeymooners paradise, for a couple of kids.


http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/267906

http://www.gracepoints.com/

Very very interesting webpage.

Oh please, there are better examples in the USA, than Naija. Even then, if some of the girls were to choose between working as a live in maid with paid board and lodgings in Nigeria and the USA, they will definitely go with the USA. The underlying reason is that by law, they are protected from abuse, and they would not have to work 24/7 without overtime. True, there are some families that cater to their maids adequately, but sincerely, how many of them exist back home? How many families who employ their maids pay them overtime or give them 2 days off per week to attend to their needs. Nna, as I have lived in the USA, I have come to the conclusion that house maid/houseboy is a modern day slavery. For once, I dont think I'd be able to (if my parents had died when I was young) to work seven days a week in a household, washing their clothes, sweeping, cooking, dusting and all those duties while the children are sitting around idly watching television or engaging in fun activities. Not fair at all, not fair. You simply cant justify slavery because of pittance you are providing them, like board and lodgings. You are in Houston, right? I guess you may have heard of an African in the east coast who was arrested by the cops for abusing their maid. Or, an Egyptian who was rescued from slavery in Los Angeles. So, these servitude is accepted in our society, to the West, it is synomynous with slavery.

Nna, lets start from the grassroot

Busy_body:
@ Topic

I will say none, gosh aren't we in the era where slavery should be abolished And some of them even had the guts to say they prefer children under the age of 10

Nna, see am. Ignorance is never bliss!

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-10441.0.html