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Nsumankwaa Fie Inc.
Mission Statement
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Nsumankwaa Fie means house of the servant of the Suman. As a spiritual house it was given this name by the late Nsumankwaahene Nana Baffour Domfe Gyeabour who served as Chief Priest to an Asantehene. As an outgrowth of a spiritual house, Nsumankwaa Fie Inc. is a non-member charitable and educational nonprofit corporation. Its mission is to archive, research and publish information on spiritual beliefs and cultural practices with a focus on people of African descent. The Corporation will share the results of its research in various multimedia formats for the benefit of the general public. The Corporation will conduct its affairs in a manner that does not disqualify it as an exempt organization under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In furtherance of said purposes the Corporation may make distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future tax code.
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Board Members
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Nana Kweku Carr Asante serves as the Akan priest to the Temple of Nyame Dua which he founded in 1988. The Temple is supported by the home shrine in Abenase, Ghana. The Temple of Nyame Dua serves families in the US through clan rejuvenation and the conduct of life-enriching rituals. It ministers to the people of Abenase through ongoing projects. These projects include building wells to supply clean water, renovating schools, providing students with the support they need to attend school and college, distributing school supplies to the Akyemansa School District and provisions to widows each Xmas, allotting sports equipment to village football teams and a local school.
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​Nana Kweku also pursues his peace mission as an active participant in the L-C PAN Community Council of Elders for the DC Metropolitan Area. In this capacity, he collaborates with other elders to resolve conflict within the African community and to promote programs that advance unity. Nana Kweku Carr Asante has been educated by world travel, including over 30 years of intensive and annual study in Ghana, and he has been guided by the teachings of his ancestors, most especially his father. He is an avid reader and student of life.
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He earned his BA and his MSW from Howard University. As a licensed social worker and therapist, Nana Kweku began his service as a mental health and daily living counselor to adolescents and families in 1980. He has been particularly attentive to the needs of young people who have been institutionalized, incarcerated, or challenged by addiction. In 1986, he co-founded the MAAT Institute for Human and Organizational Enhancement, Inc., where he served as clinical social worker and director. MAAT conducted rites of passage programs, manhood training, and delivered family, group, and individual therapy. In 1991, he became affiliated with the developmental institution Foundation Schools through which he developed and directed Foundation Links. As director, he coordinated individually tailored programs and therapies for young people and their families. Nana Kweku is the co-editor of The Black Mentally Retarded Ofender, and the author of Voices from Within, a collection of spiritual meditations.
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Okomfo Dr. Kwesi Amoa currently serves at the President and Executive Director of Akom Kese Planning Committee. He is a graduate priest of Nana Atinga, a Bosum found in northerner Ghana. He was trained under the direction of Nana Kodia Ababio of Banafo Bosumfie and Nana Kwame Amanfu of Nsubri, Ghana.
Dr. Amoa received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in chemistry from Fisk University and he earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from Howard University. He has certifications from the Wharton School of Business in Integrating Finance and Marketing and Finance and Accounting for Non-Finance Managers. He is the founder and Executive Director for ReCycle For Education and currently serve as vice-chair for South Queens Park Association board. He is married to Andrea A. Amoa, Esq. and is a proud father of three.
Some of his administrative accomplishments are: served as Dean of Mathematics and Science, and Engineering at Westchester Community College, served as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Huston-Tillotson University, Chaired the Physical, Environmental, and Computer Science Department at Medgar Evers College, Chaired the College Wide Academic Standards and Regulations, Vice-Chaired for the Committee on Institutional Assessment, Co-Chaired for Middle State Accreditations Self-Study – Institutional Assessment, and lead a team of faculty in the pre-accreditation for the Environmental Health Science Program.
Okomfo Ama Boakyewa. Okomfo Ama was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana as the oldest of four children. Both sides of her family had ties to the Deep South in Mississippi and Arkansas. Her religious upbringing was in the Bethel AME Church.
She was not introduced to African culture until the late 1960’s during her time at Howard University. That began with an introduction to Baba Zulu and the Ujamaa Shule in Washington, DC. It was through Ujamaa that Okomfo was brought into Akom at Melvin Deal’s Studio. She worked with Nana Nsia, Nana Yao and Nana Duku and through them met Nana Yao Opare Dinizulu.
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Okomfo’s training to the priesthood began in 1978 and she graduated 1981 in Virginia. From 1973 through 1994, Okomfo worked for Amtrak in various positions in Washington, DC and New York City. In 1994, she began to work as a part-time Public Educator for the African Burial Ground Project (ABG), and this became another extension of her African involvement. She also traveled extensively to Ghana over the years with Nana Yao or independently. While at the ABG, she decided to return to school and pursue Anthropology as a profession.
Okomfo left New York for Indiana to complete her educational training, which included intensive Twi language study, training in research/interview skills and theoretical investigation at Indiana University-Bloomington. She received a Fulbright-Hays dissertation grant in 2007 for her one-year in-depth research on priests and healing at the Akonnedi Shrine and its supporting communities and personnel. In all, this research includes at least 250 interviews of chiefs, shrine heads, priests, herbalists, spokespersons, abrafos (executioners), and other persons connected to shrines within the Eastern Region of Ghana. This research can be found in her dissertation entitled, Nana Opare and the Akonnedi Shrine: Cultural, Global and Religious Agents, 2014
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Okomfo Nana Mena Yaa Bradua was born in Jamaica, then migrated to the USA in the early 1980s. She is a licensed Physical Therapist (UWI in Jamaica) and holds an MS in Oriental Medicine (AM College in Miami). Nana Yaa and her spouse, Dr. Robert Vassall, jointly own a medical practice in South Florida, where the integration of alternative therapies and allopathic medicine is utilized to treat mental illness. Nana Yaa applies her knowledge as an Akan Priest in the clinical setting, to facilitate the management of mental and physical disorders.
Okomfohene Nana Kwabena Brown – Nana Kwabena hosted Nana Oparebea during her first official visit to Washington, D.C., in 1973. He is the senior priest of the Temple of Nyame. He initiated into to both Akom and Afa, also known as Ifa. Nana Kwabena owned an African art store during the 1960s which served as a catalyst for discussions about African culture and religion. This evolved into group trips to New York to attend spiritual ceremonies hosted by Nana Dinizulu. In 1971, Nana Kwabena accompanied Nana Dinizulu on a charted flight to Ghana with over 200 other Diasporas. Nana Kwabena is well known in Washington, D.C., for hosting Odwira festivals, lecturing, spiritual counseling and officiating traditional weddings, naming ceremonies and funerals.
Nana Akosua Mwangazaa has been a student of African traditional culture since the early 1990s. She is a former 30-year member of the Temple of Nyame of Washington DC where she was a Junior Elder (2006). In 2011 she became an Okomfo, a consecrated minister in the order of Nana Akonnedi of Larteh, Kubease, Ghana, West Africa. She is dedicated to Nana Esi, an ancestor spirit whose mission is to heal, nurture and nourish human beings in spiritual need. Nana Akosua’s principal teacher was Bukor Okomfohene Nana Kwabena Brown along with Nana Nsia Dennis, Bukor Iya Mari Brown and Wofa Kwasi Yeboah Daaku. Post graduate training has included teachings from Nana Kwasi Oppong and Elder Malidoma Some. She currently provides spiritual consultations and accompanying healing services for her shrine house, Ogya Fie.
Nana Akosua is the Founder of the Kwasi Daaku Akan Cultural Institute (www.kdaci.org). In addition, Nana Akosua owns the Aurora Wellness Center (formerly known as Acupuncture By Stephanie M Brown: www.healthyselves.com) and is a licensed Acupuncturist (2006), certified Herbalist (2017), certified Color Therapist (1998), Pranic Healer (Ms. Ernestine Mitchner (1988)), and Reiki Master (lineage Ms. Ethel Lombardi (1980) and Rev. AdaRa Walton (2001)). She recently published a book entitled Five Elements for Life.
Nana Akosua holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics (1977). She worked in Information Technology at IBM and the World Bank (as an IT Consultant and later held positions of Training, Asset, Project, and Help Desk Managers). As owner of Letter Perfect Inc., a desktop publishing company, many graphic and typesetting projects were completed for local organizations and businesses. She also led a team to create and publish a monthly reader, Sweet Bees' Pad, for children in grades 4-6 (circulation 60,000).
Nana Akosua Mwangazaa strives each day to serve the people as a teacher and healer.
Nana Kofi Asiedu Ofori is the Chief Executive Officer of Nsumankwaa Fie Inc. He is Obosumfo (keeper of the shrine) for the mmeotia (dwarf) spirit Nana Kwaku Odaaku which comes from a sacred grove (pictured above) in the mountains near Jamasi-Asante Ghana. He completed his training as a priest in 1999 and was graduated by Nana Kwaku Ofori chief mmeotia Okomfo in Ghana as well as Nana Ankobeahene Ama Oparebea Bekoe in America. In 2021, he produced a two-day online commemoration about the transmigration of the Akom spiritual path from Ghana to America. Nana Ofori holds a B.A. in political science from Tufts University and a J.D. degree from Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the Bar for the District of Columbia.
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Chief Ifakunle Ogunjinmi Omowale is an Ifa and devotee of Orisa as practiced. He holds a hereditary chieftaincy in Onagboro community in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is trained by Chief Araba Ifatope Akinwande of Osa l’Ogbe temple in Abeokuta. Chief Ifakunle holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BSc from FAMU. He is based in Washington, D.C. where he is active in Venture Capital and other alternative investments.
Okomfo Adwoa Tano – Nana Tano is a priestess to the ancient Obosom Asuo Tano. She holds a PhD in African Public Policy, Development, and World Affairs from Howard University. Her dissertation entitled, Entering the Sacred Circle: A History of the Akan Spiritual Tradition in the United States 1965-2015, covers the story of the migration of the Akom religion from Ghana to America. It constitutes the basis for much of the scholarly research for the Commemoration initiative. Nana Tano's presentation addressed the need for the African studies curriculum to place more emphasis on spirituality as the center post of African culture as well as implications for museum curation.
