Klamadaboe - The story of a community's struggle to bury the dead

Every group of people across the globe has its own culture and traditions that make them unique, and it includes taboos.

Klamadaboe is a village near Torgome, a community located in the North Tongu constituency in the Volta Region. It shares boundaries with villages like Avulakope, Howfordu, Agavewoto, and Ametakpoe.

Klamadaboe has an average population of 800 people, with farming being their main source of livelihood. The village has a forest which is the only path into the town.

The villagers leave their dead below an ancient forest that is said to stop dead bodies from passing through it.

Myths behind the forest

Known colloquially in the local language as Aveme, the Forest has long been considered a haunted place due to stories about earthbound spirits who perished with a sense of deep sadness and anger in the Forest, as well as the legends of people living in isolated places.

Although death is a topic that generally inspires dread, it marks the sudden and irreversible separation of a person from their loved ones. Even if one believes in the afterlife, the immediate severing of the connection between the dead and the living is absolute. But the kind of taboos the people of Klamadaboe uphold and guard jealously make the village super unique.

Klamadaboe, just like most Ghanaian communities, has a host of superstitions that have been around for a long time. Aside from the very light ones shared by most communities across the country, Klamadaboe has a taboo the people have been living with since time immemorial.

Klamadaboe has certain customs that stop its inhabitants from doing some things.
The village has a Forest which is the only road the residents use into the town and where dead bodies or coffins are not allowed to pass.

When indigenes die, their remains are taken out of the village for burial in the catchment area, as the dead are not allowed to pass through the Forest which is the only road.

The dead body or coffin is permitted to pass through the river to the village for the final funeral rites to be performed and uses the same channel to be taken out for burial.

Due to this, unlike other communities where cemeteries are visible with some people closely living around tombs, there is no cemetery in Klamadaboe.
With all these seemingly draconian taboos, one may be tempted to say or believe the residents of Klamadaboe are living in a small box struggling for freedom, but the community leaders said the taboos, which have long been part of the people of Klamadaboe, have done them more good than harm.

According to them, it is a virgin Forest that doesn't allow bad things to happen, especially when someone plans evil in the village. In the Forest, there are gods that don't allow dead bodies or empty coffins to pass.

83-year-old man explains why dead bodies aren't allowed to pass through the forest

An 83-year-old man who grew up in the village called Evans Kwame, narrating the history of the forest to Pulse.com.gh, said the name of the Forest in the Ewe local language is 'Axave'.

He said the Forest has been there since his great grandfathers, adding that the gods will not allow you to pass with dead bodies. Evans Kwame explained that when a dead body goes through the Forest, it won't rain in the village until certain spiritual rites are performed.

According to him, "It is a taboo. Even an empty coffin is not allowed to pass because it is believed that when a dead body is used to pass through the Forest and rain will not fall until the gods are conciliated.

"The gods will catch you if you dare to pass through the Forest with a dead body. Since our ancestral times, no dead body has been used to pass through and that's what we came to meet since generation

"If caught using the dead to pass, you'll pay goats or rams, half pieces of red, black, and white cloth known in Ewe as 'Anyihadze', 'Bisi', and 'Akrala', bottles of schnapps, an amount of money", and "after conciliating the gods with these items. rain will fall.", he said.

He pointed out that "If you fail to give these items, the rain will never fall" adding that "dangerous things will happen in the village."

It is believed that the Forest has animals such as tigers, crocodiles, and white fowls that are peaceful and the Forest doesn't tolerate evil.

Tiger, crocodile, snake, etc in the forest

The gods, an opinion leader in the village called Jonathan Akorli told Pulse.com.gh, are located near the riverbank near the Forest and are in the form of a tiger, crocodile, white fowls, and snake.

He stated that the Forest dislikes human blood and anybody who plans evil or wants to kill in the village will be exposed by the gods in the forest. "It is a peaceful Forest where a five-year-old child can pass or walk even at midnight, you will not be harmed," he noted.

Speaking about how dead bodies are transported to the village for funeral service, he said the villagers use a canoe to carry the corpse to pass through the river from a community called Torgome to Klamadaboe, before and after the funeral service. The corpse goes through the same process to the hometown of the deceased for burial since there's no cemetery in the village.

When taking the corpse to the village through the river, the canoe must not come near the riverbank, where the gods are located but instead pass in the middle of the river to its destination.

No burial of the dead in the village is another taboo for the people of Klamadaboe. When a non-indigene dies, their remains are taken out of the village for burial far from the catchment area. The remains are taken to their own hometown.

He explained that there's no cemetery at Klamadaboe because the residents are visitors, adding that Klamadaboe residents are under the rule of Torgome.
Jonathan indicated that the people of Klamadaboe suffer a lot when taking their corpses for burial.

The chiefs at Torgome know about the rules regarding the dead not passing through the Forest but they are also bent on observing what the ancestors have laid down.

If you are not an indigene, you will not be buried in Klamadaboe, he stated.
He added that opinion leaders and elders have approached the fetish priest to talk to the 'gods' but it has been rejected, adding that "give what belongs to Caesar to Caesar".

Even before it'll be allowed, the gods will demand and take a lot of drinks but it'll be very difficult. It is also taboo to cut a tree in the Forest, he noted.
He indicated that on Mondays and Saturdays, no one is expected to use a palm broom to sweep in the village and, when caught, you will be made to pay to appease the gods.

It is also a taboo to use the palm to tie firewood from the farm to the house in the village.

"We don't go to the farm on Saturdays. It is also a taboo to use a hoe to weed on the farm and when caught, you will be fined," he added.

He explained that, should these taboos be breached, rain will not fall and "you will be fined or pay to compensate the gods."

No infrastructure

Meanwhile, the village has poor roads, no potable water, no market, and no clinic too.

"Whenever a woman is pregnant, she has to be taken to Torgome for delivery. Even when the Member of Parliament for the area, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa wants to come to the village, he suffers", Jonathan added.

The only means of transport to Klamadaboe is via a motorbike, otherwise known as Okada. However, Jonathan appealed to the government to construct a road at the back of the Forest to aid in easy transportation.

No proper health centre and mortuary

In the wake of people dying helplessly due to a lack of ambulances, coupled with poor healthcare facilities, residents in Klamadaboe are not happy about the health centre established in Torgome. It is clear in their interactions that they want more than just an unequipped health centre.

On average, people in the village farm and harvest for consumption, thus hand-to-mouth. The village lacks potable drinking water. Although the Volta River is near the village, it has no access to water.

Another thing the village lacks is access to quality education, and Pulse.com.gh can confirm death-trap classroom blocks within the community.

Pupils of the D/A primary school at Klamadaboe, a village near Torgome of the North Tongu constituency in the Volta region, risk their lives daily just to learn.

The classroom was constructed in the quest to make education accessible to children but the story of the school was different when Pulse.com.gh visited the village.

The school building has not seen any major renovation and has deteriorated, with the roofing removed. The poor state of the school building, coupled with the tattered roofs, force teachers to abruptly end teaching whenever the clouds gather.

The classrooms are equally terrible for teaching and learning. Some residents adding their voices to the issue said: "We suffer a lot to bring our corpses for funeral service and burial."

They, therefore, pleaded with the chief of Torgome to act immediately to allow them to bring their dead bodies for burial, rather than going through the hustle on the river.