Missing Woman Emerges From ‘inside the belly of the sea’ After Three Months

Prampram, an ancient town in the Greater Accra Region, received a woman from the sea, after she had disappeared for three months. The chief priest of the Osheku Shrine at Prampram, Nuumo Nartey, in an exclusive interview told this reporter that, sometime in August, this year, a 20-year old fishmonger, Akwelley Duamoh disappeared from her home. According to him, prior to that, the young woman got possessed by the deity of the Osheku
shrine and her family was asked to perform some rites to appease the gods. The Fetish Priest went on to say that the family of the woman bemoaned the state in which their daughter found herself, especially when they complained of lack of funds to perform the rituals. Now being a “property” of the shrine, when she disappeared, efforts were made to search and locate her, but she was still not found. Her family subsequently consulted the deity and to their utmost disbelief, the gods claimed responsibility. The gods, Nuumo Nartey continued, stated that since her family was not in a position to perform the rites, they were accommodating her ‘inside the belly of the sea’ and taking her through tutorials to become a fetish priestess, and that at the appointed time she would emerge. The Priest further told The Chronicle that since then, it became a routine for the shrine to keep pouring libation in order that she would be released from her marine confinement one day. As to why her disappearance was not reported to the local police, Nuumo Nartey stated that since her location was revealed, there was no need to worry the already overburdened law enforcers. In the night of Monday November 16, 2015, a member of the shrine became possessed and while in trance, he revealed that in the early hours of the next day, Akwelley would emerge from the sea, so they should proceed to the beach to receive her. Armed with this information, the Chief Priest led a retinue of priests and priestesses to the shore, at exactly 12 midnight, and started pouring libation to welcome her. This started from 0100 hours to 0300 hours, after which a dark cloud emerged from the sea. As believers of the ritual, they positioned themselves in readiness to receive what the marine underworld had for them. 1Nuumo Nartey continued that, when the thick cloud stopped at the beach, a young woman, almost nude, but for some leaves covering her waist and head, stood out and went straight to where the traditional African scientists were gathered, and was accordingly given ‘babahee’– welcome – amid singing and dancing. Still possessed, she looked at things strangely and was escorted to the entrance of her family house, where the very thin looking Akwelley went through rituals, such as pouring of the blood of a slaughtered sheep on her legs, before being bathed and finally ushered into her house. As tradition demands, she was officially welcomed. She wanted to know about the happenings in her absence and as protocol demanded, she was told all was well, but she would not say where she went to or the people she went to live with. Nuumo Nartey said that it was revealed to the shrine that she becomes the head of the fetish priestesses of Osheku deity.