By Dr. Alhaji Njai, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Ancestral knowledge in the wake of my Neneh’s (my mother’s) passing was gained from my visits to meet community elders in Koinadugu and Falaba Districts, northern Sierra Leone.
Amadou Hampate Ba once said that when an old person dies in Africa, it is like an entire library has been burnt. That adage holds true in my visits and the tremendous knowledge from elders in the community.
At Dogolonya, the knowledge came from the old men sitting under the palava tree besides the legendary mosque and also from my Philosopher Neneh Haja Kessoh in the Village. Here is a old lady with the most beautiful mind that revolves around astronomy, metaphysics, the cosmos and ethno- medicine.
As Neneh takes me around the yard, she goes quickly from one subject to another, and medicinal uses of all the plants she has in the yard. Here is someone simply discussing Mendelian genetics of plant crosses without ever stepping foot in a University.
I find myself looking for my notebook or phone recorder, and at awe with the ancestral knowledge and imagination. This is the inter-generational knowledge we are losing amidst the modern positivism approach to knowledge that de-emphasizes indigenous knowledge systems.
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