Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced

Winter Session of AKALI's Afrikan Language and Worldview Classes!!!

In Two Weeks! Starting the week of December 4th, Abibitumi Kasa will invite you to warm up your winter with the Life, Spirit and Light of Afrika at Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Language Institute's (AKALI's) Winter Session Classes!

The Winter Session on Ananse’s web Includes Introductory Akan (Twi) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7:00-9:00 Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Intermediate Akan (Twi) on Saturdays, from 10:00AM-12:00PM EST.

Introductory Yoruba on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 7:00PM-9:00PM EST.

Intermediate Yoruba Online on Saturdays, from 1:00PM-3:00PM EST.

We are also offering privately scheduled Advanced Individual and Group tutorials on a broad range of topics in both Akan (Asante and Akuapem Twi) and Yoruba.

No where in the country can you receive Professional and Competent Unapologetically Afrikan Centered and Nationalist Oriented Afrikan Language instruction with the Anfaani (OPPORTUNITY) to interact with AFRIKANS from throughout the country and throughout the World that are embarking on the same Journey of reclamation and restoration!

The course is regularly $195 for a standard eight (8) week session. However, thanks to funds received from The Betty Shabazz International Charter School Community Shule, Malcolm X College and Urban Solutions, Inc, for a limited time Abibitumi Kasa is now able to Offer Online Classes which are 50% subsidized for the First Time EVER, so students only pay $97.50 With a Sankofa Scholarship from AKALI for the other half! Per Class Rates are also available at $15 per class Online!

Also for those who sign up to go to Ghana via Sankofa Abusua and Abibitumi Kasa’s Sankofa Journey, the course is included in Journey payment. This means that you get a $195 value at no additional cost and that, for you, this will be a TEN WEEK course with thorough and intensive daily language instruction in context IN GHANA! Talk about Warming Up your winter!!!

(For those not attending the Sankofa Journey, courses will be paused from January 3rd to January 16th and will resume with the rest of the 8 week session at that point)

Also join those who have already taken advantage of Group rates, City rates, Family rates and referral discounts, an Abibitumi Kasa standard! Register today at http://www.abibitumikasa.com/Register.php . Contact Abibitumi Kasa at (773) 696-5765 or obadelekwame@abibitumikasa.com today for more information or any questions.

Also be sure to sign up for Abibitumi Kasa’s Extensive and ever expanding 100% FREE to ALL AFRIKAN (BLACK) people online Resource Center with 1591 current resources on Afrikan Languages and Worldview including rare resources and texts In Afrikan Languages on topics varied from Afrikan Military Systems to Afrikan Cultural and Spiritual Systems including audio from previous online classes at http://www.abibitumikasa.com/yabb/YaBB.pl to give yourself a head start in preparation for this Exciting Upcoming session.

Then, DO NOT MISS THE Anfaani (OPPORTUNITY) to Check out What other students from California to Florida, from native speakers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of their language to those whose family line have not spoken an Afrikan language in 400 years have had to say about Twi and Yoruba Classes Online at Abibitumi Kasa at http://www.abibitumikasa.com/guestbook

For those who have already registered, be sure to pay or arrange payment options before December 4, 2006. For those who have already paid be sure to register so that we have your contact information and a greater understanding of your motivation to learn an Afrikan language and what you hope to gain from your learning at Abibitumi Kasa.

If you’ve already done both just, sit back relax and prepare to learn, experience, feel and know the power of Afrika on levels you never dreamed possible…from the inside!!!

(For those registered for the intermediate class, you are welcome to the Introductory course to gain more exposure to the language, reinforce basic skills and have an opportunity to help others along the way. Those in the introductory class are also encouraged to attend intermediate sessions to greater familiarize oneself with the spoken language in various contexts and to help intermediate students stay on point! This means 3 (Three Classes a week) every week! Visit http://www.abibitumikasa.com/yabb/chat/flashchat.php to familiarize yourself with the Learning Environment and visit http://www.abibitumikasa.com/Register.php for software and computer requirement information necessary for the class.)

The Importance of Afrikan Languages and Worldview
By Obadele Kambon

By conservative estimates there are 1,800 documented languages in Afrika covering approximately 11,730,000 square miles. Within this space is much linguistic variation. However, the common thread which binds the languages of the Black people of Afrika is a common worldview. Worldview can be understood as the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. Worldview can also be defined as a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

We find similar essential aspects built into Afrikan languages throughout Afrika, such as concepts of interdependence (Obi dan bi – Someone depends on another [Twi language of Ghana, West Afrika], respect for elders (Omode le ni aso to agba, sugbon, ko le ni akisa to agba – A child may have as many clothes as an elder but does not have as many rags (a symbol of experience and wisdom) [Yoruba language of Nigeria, West Afrika]) and reciprocity (Aimu t’owo re wa ko gba t’owo eni – One who doesn’t bring his/her hand (to give) doesn’t receive that which is in the hand of another [Yoruba language of Nigeria, West Afrika])

Language and culture comprise all of the values that we use to view and interpret the world, our place in the world and ourselves. Both language and culture spring forth from the worldview which has given birth to them.

An example of the values and beliefs of worldview built into language is how we find a perception of the world in English language in which everything Black is associated with badness. Black Monday, Black cat, Blackballed, Blacklisted, Black people, etc. This is not a universal concept, but one that is intimately linked with a European worldview which is encapsulated in European languages. It is also a concept that has vast implications for Black people, how Black people view the world and ourselves.

It is essential for Afrikan (Black) people throughout the world to reclaim and cherish our Afrikan tongues because, as stated by renown Kenyan author According to Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Decolonizing the Mind, 1981) “language is never simply a neutral instrument to convey meaning, but rather a culturally subjective system reflecting peoples' worldview. Language symbolizes the common beliefs and psychological make-up of the community from which it springs.” Thus language imposes a worldview upon those who speak it that has a profound conscious and subconscious impact on what we think, how we think, when we think and why we think.

Afrikan languages are also important for Afrikan people because, as stated by educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson, "Who prescribes the diameter of your knowledge circumscribes the circumference of your activity." There is no more effective way to do this than to cut a people off from their language and thus from knowledge of their own healing systems, spiritual systems, philosophical tradition and themselves. As an Akan proverb states, Nea ne epa da wo nsa no, na woye n’akoa “You are the slave of the one whose handcuffs are on your wrists.” Afrikan languages and the Afrikan worldview from which they spring offer possibilities of liberation necessary for Afrikan (Black) people throughout the world.

Obadele Kambon is the founder and lead instructor of Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Language Institute (AKALI). AKALI Twi and Yoruba language classes are currently offered at Betty Shabazz International Charter School and Malcolm X College. He also teaches students throughout the nation via online conference software at AKALI’s website http://www.abibitumikasa.com . He has earned Master of Arts Degrees in both Linguistics and African Languages and Literature and is currently pursuing a doctorate in African Languages and Literature. He can be contacted at (773) 696-5765 or via email at obadelekwame@abibitumikasa.com

Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Language Institute (AKALI) is on a move!

AKALI is building and solidifying relationships with Betty Shabazz International Charter School (BSICS), The Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies of Northeastern Illinois University, and now Malcolm X College of the City Colleges of Chicago.

At BSICS, AKALI teaches conversational Yoruba on Mondays and Akan on Tuesdays from 6:00PM-8:00PM.

At the Center for Inner City Studies, we offer a course in Afrikan Communications. This is a course dealing with verbal and non-verbal communication systems of Afrika and how Afrikan communication systems convey the Afrikan Worldview. This course is a survey which deals with Afrikan greetings, naming systems, dance, music, writing systems and more.

This Fall, AKALI will begin offering courses in Twi and Yoruba at Malcolm X College.

Be sure to stay tuned to stay up on the work that AKALI is engaging in for our Afrikan Liberation individually and collectively.

Also visit AbibitumiKasa.Com to find out how you can get involved!!!

And remember to stay BlackNificent!!!

Obadele

Obadele Kambon

Interested in Chicago face-to-face classes or online classes? Email or call Obadele Kambon to sign up or just for more details! akyeame_kwame@yahoo.com
or
(773) 684-0943

For more info call (773) 684-0943

For more info call (773) 684-0943

Ẹ kú òmìnira o! Greetings of Freedom!

Baba Wade Nobles has said that “power is the ability to define reality and have others respond to that definition is if it were their own.” Further, the reality of today is based upon the concepts and theories of yesterday. These are concepts that are eternally linked to a specific culture. A specific language with a specific history. According to Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “language carries culture, and culture carries...the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world.” It is said that, “the one who prescribes the diameter of your knowledge determines the circumference of your activity.” In other words, “a cow grazes where it is tied” and “cattle is only as good as the field in which it grazes.” How we are able to and choose to conceive of the world is mediated by language. It is through conceptual incarceration within the prison of an alien language designed and intended to serve only its master, that the alien is able to shape our destiny by shaping our very thoughts. Our ancestors say:

Watch your thoughts for they become your actions
Watch your actions for they become your habits
Watch your habits for they become your character
Watch your character for it becomes your destiny

As it is individually, so it is collectively. For our ancestors say “the actions of one generation become the history of the next generation. The actions of many generations become the traditions of a people.” Afrikans in general and Afrikans in the Diaspora in particular have endeavored to re-conceptualize the world through language. Oftentimes, lacking other options, through the language forced upon us. However, it is said, “the dog does not prefer bones to meat, it is just that no one ever gives him meat.” We are the long awaited hunters. “You are the slave of the one whose handcuffs are on your wrists,” We are the long awaited liberators. It is us! We who have been entrusted by our Ancestors. We, the guardians of our languages, hold the key to re-conceptualizing reality for the best interests of Afrikans throughout the world: those in Afrika and those abroad. That we may speak our reality into the future; that we may shape the destiny of our children, of our children’s children, of our children’s children’s children, and for the still more beautyful ones yet to be born.

This is our charge as we reclaim the Yoruba language and through it the essence of Afrikan philosophy and the Afrikan worldview. For our goal of the total liberation of all Afrikan people from the grasp of white world terror domination.

In this class, the student will learn our proverbs, our songs, our stories, our Ifa verses, our greetings a.b.b.l. and be empowered to teach others gaining self-confidence in the language through competence in the language.

!!!Welcome to the world of Abibitumi Kasa!!!

Interested in finding an Online Afrikan Language Resource Center for Afrikan People?

Click on the AKALI logo in the "Links" section in the top right of the page and enjoy resources in Akan, Yoruba, Wolof, KiKongo, KiSwahili and more!

Also be sure to check out our Afrikan Traditional Languages forum at http://www.abibitumikasa.com/yabb/yaBB.pl
to begin learning and sharing today!

Now offering Interactive Online Yoruba and Akan Language courses