http://malidoma.com Malidoma Patrice Some´ Phd., West African Elder, author and teacher, as representative of his village in Burkina Faso, West Africa, has come to the west to share the ancient wisdom and practices which have supported his people for thousands of years. It is possible that we have been brought together at this time because we have profound truths to teach each other. Toward that end, I offer the wisdom of the African ancestors so that Westerners might find the deep healing they seek. The spark of this ancestral flame, which I have brought to the land of the stranger, is now burning brightly. Increasingly, I have been and will be encouraging westerners to embody these traditions as a testimony to the indigenous capacity to assert itself with dignity in the face of modernity. In this way the ancestors will know that this medicine has found a true home- that it is more than an honored guest. At this critical time in history, the earth’s people are awakening to a deep need for global healing. African wisdom, so long held secret, is being called on to provide tools to enable us to move into a more peaceful and empowered way of being, both within ourselves, and within our communities. The indigenous spirit in each of us is calling for cleansing and reconciliation. The ancestors are responding. – Malidoma From the age of four, he lived away from the Dagara, at a Jesuit boarding school and was given a Western education. He left this school when he was twenty, by which time he had forgotten his native language. In order to be able to communicate with his people, he underwent a process of "relearning". He writes about taking part in a month-long Dagara "initiation process" of the type all Dagara males undergo as part of the passage to manhood. Somé says the Dagara believe that each person is born with a destiny, and he or she is given a name that reflects that destiny. Somé says his name, "Malidoma", means "friend of the enemy/stranger." Somé believes it is his destiny to come to a Western audience in friendship and tell them about his experience of being torn away from his people by Westerners.