When the rain started last Saturday night around 10pm, I lay in my bed terrified; thinking and wondering what would happen to these cursed Kaneshie market chaps. My heart sank with each thunder strike as I managed to number the souls that would be washed away before the break of dawn.<\/p>\n
I just couldn\u2019t sleep so I had to wake up to type this out.<\/p>\n
I had left the house around 4:30pm the previous Monday to get myself a pair of sandals at the Kaneshie market when the incident happened. Even though I had already done my little shopping, I decided to stroll around for some few extras.<\/p>\n
At one \u2018selection\u2019 joint under the bridge, I felt a splash on my feet and turned. Disgusting! Raw eggs being crashed on the floor? A curse was ongoing right behind me and I had never seen anything like that before.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who touched the phone should be struck by thunder anytime it rains\u201d said a fuming young man after each crash of the three eggs. My curiosity grew and I got closer to the scene.<\/p>\n
It happened that some of the market guys had intentionally hidden this young man’s phone and pretended it had been stolen. He was a colleague of theirs who deals in sandals. After intense searching and interrogation about the item, everyone denied having it in their possession. Apparently, he thought the phone had indeed been stolen so prior to carrying out the ritual, he warned- “anyone who has the phone should return it immediately or face the consequences.”<\/p>\n
His colleague traders who were enjoying the little prank kept giggling and teasing him to forget about the phone and buy a new one. They further went ahead to challenge his ability to perform any curse on something as little as a phone. “How much sef<\/em> is this China phone?” I heard one guy say.<\/p>\n The outraged phone owner could no longer join in the fun and decided to accept the challenge so he went in for three raw eggs. He wanted to prove that he is a man of his words and therefore cannot go back to eat them. So he cursed.<\/p>\n Few minutes after the little display, the boys finally brought out the phone and handed it over to him but he rejected it saying he had already performed the curse. Therefore, he had nothing more to do with the phone. He would rather go for a new one as they had instructed.<\/p>\n Now here I was in my little urban mind, thinking aloud- \u201cwho believes in curses these days? It\u2019s 2016 for God\u2019s sake. Come on, this isn\u2019t a Harry Porter world\u201d- but I was wrong. The rain poured heavily the next Sunday- just a day after the incident- with so much thunder and lightning.<\/p>\n But before I left the market that Saturday evening, some market elders were called to the scene to take note of the incident. I heard one of them say the young man will be summoned for questioning because it is against the rules of the market for any man to put a curse on another.<\/p>\n Some market women also suggested that the young man get a bucket of water to reverse the curse and everything will be back to normal since it was just a little prank.<\/p>\n Yet, as I lay in bed that night, I couldn\u2019t wait to find out what would happen if the curse hadn’t been reversed. I don\u2019t really believe in superstitions whatsoever so I needed to follow up on this one. The next day, I went over to the market again.<\/p>\n After my rounds in town that Monday evening, I walked through the market, hoping the atmosphere could tell me anything – but it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Considering the busy nature of the traders at the time, I suspected nothing had happened so I decided to leave without being nosy. Fortunately on my way out, I met this jeans seller whom I noticed was the lead actor (guy who hid the phone).<\/p>\n Alas! I was able to get the full details of what happened by playing a customer.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> (Taking a trouser from him). This trouser looks nice. How much is it?<\/p>\n Jeans Seller: <\/strong>it\u2019s only GHC20. How much will you give?<\/p>\n Me: <\/strong>Well, I don\u2019t have money on me now. But wait, are you are one of the guys who were involved in last Monday\u2019s \u201cphone and curse\u201d issue?<\/p>\n Jeans seller:<\/strong> (Smiling) Yes. In fact, what happened here last Monday was very unfortunate but we\u2019ve all learnt from it.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> Really? I was watching your little display from behind. So what happened afterwards? Did the guy reverse the curse?<\/p>\n Jeans seller:<\/strong> Of course, we spent about GHC500 that day to buy some items demanded by the fetish priest.<\/p>\n Me: <\/strong>Fetish priest? You mean five million old Ghana cedis? That\u2019s a lot of money. What did the priest demand and who paid for all that money?<\/p>\n Jeans seller:<\/strong> Hmmm, the money was used to buy three fowls, a bottle of schnapps, a white cloth, gin and other items which I can\u2019t remember to reverse the curse.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> Oh okay. So who paid for the money? You or the guy who cursed?<\/p>\n Jeans Seller:<\/strong> I actually paid GHC50. The guy\u2019s brother also made a contribution while all the other boys were asked to pay an amount else we won\u2019t be allowed to trade here again.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> Hmmm, that must really be a big lesson to all of you. I hope nothing like this ever happen again.<\/p>\n Jeans Seller: <\/strong>Yea, we were all summoned by the elders and they warned us not to repeat such incident here in the market. The guy\u2019s phone has been given to him so there is no problem.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> Are you sure he took back the phone to use or he went to sell it out?<\/p>\n Jeans Seller:<\/strong> Yes he took it back. The fetish priest has already reversed the curse so nothing would happen to him if he uses it.<\/p>\n Me<\/strong>: Which fetish priest did you consult?<\/p>\n Jeans Seller:<\/strong> We have a fetish priest here in the market so our elders had to go and see him for the ritual. It was done that same day after the items were bought so I am sure everything is fine now.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> I see. I remembered all about you when it started raining last Tuesday night. Tell me; were you scared then?<\/p>\n Jeans Seller:<\/strong> (Smiling). Of course I was. I know the impact of some of these things but since we had already reversed it, I was sure nothing would happen to me.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> Okay. Next time you should know who to poke. I think that young man is quite volatile and you people shouldn\u2019t have played that prank on him.<\/p>\n Jeans Seller<\/strong>: Yes. Don\u2019t mind him. We are all traders here and he knows how we behave sometimes so we were actually taken aback when he went to that extent.<\/p>\n However, I think it\u2019s a lesson for us all not to mess with other peoples stuff. I am happy steps were taken to dissolve the case immediately.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> (Satisfied) Okay thank you. I will buy one of the jeans the next time I come over. Regard me as your customer now. Bye!<\/p>\n Sigh! Some jokes can be expensive indeed. This one actually went for a whopping five million old Ghana cedis. That\u2019s a lot of money. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you live in the old or new Ghana. Just know who to tickle. You might just be denied that last laugh.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Farida Shaibu\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n The writer is a Broadcast Journalist with Citi Fm<\/strong><\/p>\n Blogs at thinkperple.wordpress.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Email: mzfady@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the rain started last Saturday night around 10pm, I lay in my bed terrified; thinking and wondering what would happen to these cursed Kaneshie market chaps. My heart sank with each thunder strike as I managed to number the souls that would be washed away before the break of dawn. I just couldn\u2019t sleep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":217475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[374],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n