Love Potion #1

Douche juice. A sleazy legend in swaths of Ghana, (or was it in ancient times?) A woman longs to lure a man’s heart for love or gold? No problem. She cooks for him with water she’s used to irrigate her ‘fertile fields’. Guaranteed to make him her toke* to the end of time.

*Also toke bele – a man who is under a spell and is a fool for a woman.

Nogokpo – White Magic Shrine

The Nogokpo Shrine divines white magic on the southern Volta coastline. A super-specialist in thief-catching spells, it also dabbles in other martial mystics. Example: Anonymous steals your cell phone. You traipse to Nogokpo with the details. Nogokpo offers 2 options. Nogokpo can pay you the market price for your phone (which also amounts to buying the soul of Anonymous). Then, Nogokpo will visit indescribably excruciating afflictions on Anonymous. In one case, a thief who stole a chicken (and cooked and ate it) had it crowing out of his stomach until he surrendered to Nogokpo. Alternatively, Nogokpo will issue a spiritual summons to Anonymous, who cannot refuse to answer. The result is always the same: incantations invoked; property (or its value) recovered; or else Anonymous and their family lie buried in caskets!

The Other Side

This week I’m thinking about exploring the paranormal from a neutral ‘punto de vista’. What, really, is the other side? Well, for practitioners, taggers-along and hypocrites of the ‘modern’ religions, it is the parallel dimension which claims to be able to tap into all the unimaginably mighty power that we all know the Universe possesses (but some of us frown upon). We shall prospect for tales from around Ghana, from a purely light-entertainment vantage; that's if I summon the strength to do it.

Fan Ice

It is the shoe-shine scene playing all over again. But up the street, the shrill, short bugle blasts float faster. Paaaaa-na, paaaaa-na. The Fan-Ice boy goes bicycling by. He has frozen strawberry yoghurt, frozen chocolate, and a frozen, sorbet-like vanilla delight.

Shoe Shine

You’re indoors, keeping house, just lounging or kitting up for work (regretting that there’s no time to lick-n-buff your shoes). Tat-tat, rat-tat. Silence. Rat-tat, rat-tat. Yes, you heard it! A shoe-shine boy (bless him twice) is drumming up the street to burnish your kickers. But before the hour is surely saved, you have to insure that the polish is “Kiwi”, unless you don’t mind “Lude”.

Ayigbe Toffee

Sweetened condensed milk; fraction-frizzled in a pan, on a hot flame, into a tempting tan; window-silled to cool to a pliant plasticine. Rolled or moulded into fanciful figures – cylinders and snakes, squares and triangles; finger-licking good.

Daakowa

Roasted corn and groundnuts; milled and melded into a jellified mush; left to stand for a while to catch and cast off the groundnut grease; blended with ginger, sugar and Wisa seeds; kneaded into delightful, doughy, sienna globules.