Ifokanbale Omo Orisa!
Although the Ifa New Year is in June of each year let me wish a Blessed and Prosperous New Year 2012 of the solar year.This is a first for me! My only appeal to you over the past year of this Blog has been for your comments. In this Post I want to ask for your assistance in a small charitable act. If you have read Day 5 of my Journey to the Root you will remember Baba Adelekan’s appeal and mission to turn the attention of the worldwide community of Ifa devotees towards the Sacred Shrines, Groves, Temples, and Icons of the Ifa Tradition, all of which are in need of restoration and upkeep. Every religious or spiritual community holds dear that which lay at the root of their tradition and beliefs. Baba asked why should the worldwide community of Ifa devotees be any different in their devotion to the Source? As you know from my journal and the Ile Awo Orisa web site Dedication his words left a very deep impression on me and set the course of the past 10 years of my life.
Having traveled to Nigeria I know something of the conditions there and can only imagine how difficult things are in the present climate of political and religious conflict. The Emese and Isoro Council maintain the indigenous culture and the Ifa community tries to remain distant from the social chaos. It is sometimes easy for you and I to forget how difficult daily life is for our Ifa brothers and sisters around the world and in Nigeria in particular. Every now and then you might catch something in the news that causes you to reflect and then the moment is gone. I had an experience a few months ago that brings me to this particular Post on Making A Difference.
Only two members of the Isoro Council use computers and cell phones. The Emese and Isoro Council are the Repository, Caretakers, and Guardians of the Ifa Tradition and Culture and still live in the ways of our most ancient of ancestors. My contact with the Emese is through them. A few months ago I received several emails from Baba Ayobamidele in which many of the words were misspelled. We had corresponded many times before and I knew his command of the language. As I got to the end of the letter I read, please excuse the misspelled words. Some of the keys on this computer do not work. (I’ve translated so you do not have to decipher the original email.) It was one of those moments that remind you how different life can be for people around the world, and how blessed you may be in your own circumstance as compared with others. It flashed through my mind how far my contacts have to travel to the University even to get access to a computer. It was like when I came back from Southeast Asia, witnessing the level of austerity and poverty, and then coming home witnessed the absolute lack of appreciation and sense of entitlement on the part of many people in the US, young and old.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Compassion is an elevated level of empathy that brings about a desire and determination to make a difference in the conditions or circumstances of another, to assist them in mitigating their difficulties, pain, or suffering, to help them alter their reality. When I read Baba’s apology for the condition of the computer I experienced compassion for his circumstance and immediately felt the desire to make a difference. I thought it would be wonderful if I could send two or four new or used laptop computers to the Isoro Council so that our ongoing communication would not be so difficult. Then I thought if I could do it myself I would without hesitation but since I’m not able to do it myself let me appeal to my readers. There must be thousands of readers (six degrees of separation) who have upgraded to a new computer and still have that older but fully functional model lying around being unproductive. We only need two to four!
Got any ideas? Or maybe you are one of those people and want to and can make a difference. If you would like to help in this small but very meaningful charitable act to support your access to the Emese, the Repository of the Ifa Tradition and Culture please email me.
Ise Olorun Tobi! God’s Work is Great and Mighty!
Ki Olodumare, Orisa, ati Egun fifun e ni
Itona, Imoye, ati Opo Ire!
Itona, Imoye, ati Opo Ire!
My Olodumare, Orisa, and Ancestors bestow on you
Guidance, Wisdom, and Abundant Blessings!
