Journal Entry #7 July 24, 2008Dear Journal,
Right now it’s about 6:30 a.m. and we are in the airport on our way to Kumasi, another city in Ghana. We plan to be in Kumasi for two days. There we will visit different villages, see some new sites, and shop a little bit more, because prices are generally lower in Kumasi then they are in Accra. I will check back in later today to tell you how my day went.
Today is probably the most interesting day that I have had on my trip to Ghana. Once we arrived in Kumasi we immediately went to the hotel and ate breakfast. We arrived in Kumasi early so we still had a full day ahead of us. From the hotel we went to the Okomfo Anokye Hospital. This is an historic site in Ghana and I will explain the history behind it. Okomfo Anokye was a spiritual leader in the Asante Kingdom, which is located in the city of Kumasi. Kumasi is the capital of the Asante Kingdom. The Asante was without question the most powerful empire in the West African sub region during the 18th century. In fact the Asante kingdom was larger than present day Ghana. The first king of the Asante was King Osei Tutu I and Omkofo Anokye was his closest advisor. In time Osei Tutu I founded the Asante Nation which I described above. As I stated Okomfo Anokye was King Osei Tutu’s closest advisor, but he was also a very close friend. I know that this is a lot of information but I had to give a brief history of the Asante Kingdom to enable you to understand what we saw today. As I stated earlier, today we visited the Okomfo Anokye Hospital, which in 1697 was the location in which Okomfo Anokye organized the 11 divisional chiefs of the Asante Empire. It is stated that the finger nails and a small sample of each chiefs’ hair was burnt into a black powder, which was mixed for all the chiefs to take turns in drinking. The rest was buried at a spot in the ground where Okomfo Anokye planted his sword. He stated that if anyone was to remove the sword it would mark the collapse of the Asante Empire. We saw the sword today! Okomfo Anokye’s sword has been in the same spot since 1697 and cannot be moved. Countless people have came and tried to remove the sword from its spot. In fact in 1964 Muhammad Ali came to Kumasi for two weeks and tried to remove the sword, and still it could not be done. It is said that in the 1950’s, when the hospital was being constructed, the contractor, whose name is Mr. Gee attempted several times to remove the sword with the use of a bulldozer. He said there were times when he was planning to use this machine to remove the sword, and the sword would vanish for six weeks then reappear in the same spot. It’s funny to me that in America there are many tales of miracles and strange happenings, but there is never any proof that the events actually took place. However that is not the case in Ghana, there is evidence to show that these magical events actually occurred. why This is one of the two DOCUMENTED events that took place in shaping the Asante Kingdom. The other event is Okomfo Anokye’s calling of the GOLDEN STOOL which has united the Asante people for over three centuries. However I figure one long story is enough for this entry. If you want to know about the Golden Stool I guess I could start another blog for that. My question to everyone is how come movies like "The Sword in the Stone" become legendary stories, yet no one can go to England and actually see a sword in a stone. However in the city of Kumasi lyes a real sword in a stone that has been there for over 300 years. However this is just another case of the Europeans raping our African culture. They stole our people, they probably had no problem stealing our stories.
