Kefentse Akim Bandele, founder of YSGOD
The Yoruba Study Group of Detroit (YSGOD) was founded on July 17, 2009 by Kefentse Akim Bandele. Kefentse, an omo Sango, felt led by his ancestors to form a group to provide fellowship for Ifa/Orisa practitioners in particular and anyone interested in learning introductory information about different African cultural traditions in general. Participation in group meetings and classes fluctuates but there are six core members of the group, with Kefentse serving as President. 80% of members and attendees are Lukumi practitioners, 10% are initiates or practitioners in some other African spiritual system and the remaining 10% are novices.
While YSGOD does not require members to engage in community outreach it is definitely encouraged and Kefentse is a very active member of his community in Detroit, assisting several organizations and individuals with food & clothing drives, protests, fund-raising, and prayers. YSGOD occasionally does public offerings to the Orisa and members also assist each other with ebos and other rituals.
Members of YSGOD give offerings to Osun.
One of the more unique aspects of YSGOD is that, while in many ways it has the functions of an ile with members actively learning and participating in different aspects of ritual, YSGOD is not an ile with an Iya or a Baba that acts as its primary authority. While the members of YSGOD welcome the wisdom and knowledge of learned and reputable elders, many elders have approached the group as though it were a ready-made ile and made certain demands to which group members were not willing to comply. However, many elders outside of Detroit have stepped in to guide the group and lend support, for which Kefentse and YSGOD are extremely grateful. Kefentse says, “We get it where we can find it until we get it from where we need it. The Ancestors have our back, always!”
YSGOD began its online presence through Facebook in 2010. In 2011 the group exploded in popularity, but Kefentse states that that was not the group’s goal or ambition. However, through Facebook, YSGOD is fulfilling its goal of introducing African traditions to people who would otherwise have a hard time finding credible information or elders to assist them. The impact of YSGOD on Facebook is notable, boasting over 200 members, with most of them participating frequently, and providing a space for African, African-American, and Latino initiates and practitioners from Lukumi, Yoruba, Palo and other traditions, as well as novices, to learn and interact, build community, and celebrate the unity among the diversity of African and African Diasporic traditions.
Kefentse, through his work with YSGOD, is fulfilling his mission “to bring African Spiritual Traditions to ‘the hood’ where it is needed most among African people in America” and that because of this mission he lives his spirituality very publicly. “There is much ancestral work to be done,” he continues. “Yet in the words of Elsworth Bumpy Johnson, ‘If you don’t know, you don’t know.'”
For more information on the Yoruba Study Group of Detroit, visit the group page on Facebook or contact Kefentse at kefentse.a.bandele@f
