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Rose Bernadette Rebienot Owansango is a traditional medicine practioner from Gabon. She is also a master and a priestess of several traditionnal initiatic rites. Among the elder of the Mpongwe community, [1],[2], her high grade allows her to exert various responsibilities of spiritual and temporal power[3],[1].

She is the president and founder of the association Village Oyenano, located in Libreville and which works for the development of traditional medicine and the preservation of cultural heritage.

She has been the president of the Union of Traditional Medicine Practioners from Gabon (U.T.S.G) since 1994.[4][5]

She is a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers established in 2004.

Early Life[edit]

Rose Bernadette Rebienot Owansango, was born in Libreville on January 1, 1934. Daughter of a legitimate union, she is the only child of her parents.

While she was still very young, Rose Bernadette lost her mother. She was therefore raised by her father in Libreville in a Mpongwe environment and spoke the Myèné language. The latter sent her to receive a Catholic religious education at the boarding school of the Blue Sisters of Castres, the current institution of the Immaculate Conception. She left with a teaching diploma and immediately entered working life. She is only 16 years old.

Professional Career[edit]

After the death of her father on April 1st, 1954, she moved to Port Gentil and worked there as a teacher until July 1962, when she returned to Libreville with her small family.

On her return, she successively taught at the Saint Pierre school, at Monfort, at Notre Dame des Victoires and at the Immaculate Conception as general supervisor.

Then, she entered the National Directorate of Catholic Education and asserted her pension rights.

Some time later, she began a political career as a provincial leader of the socio-cultural group Arongo, which she directed for several years. Later, she was appointed to the SNBG (Société Nationale des Bois du Gabon) then to the central town hall of Libreville as project manager, where she remained for 10 years.

She finally acceded to the position of adviser to the President of the Republic, the consecration of her administrative career.

Spiritual and Traditionnal Path[edit]

Although having received a Catholic education, Rose Bernadette was confronted with traditional African medicine at a very young age. Born blind, modern medicine does not diagnose any anomaly and can do nothing for her. Her family takes her to see a traditional healer, and she can regain her sight. As a teenager, she suffered from incurable pain in her feet. Then, when she is just a very young mother, unexplained headaches and tinnitus make her unable to work and force her to stay in the darkness of her room. Finding no effective solution to relieve these various ailments, she despaired and turned to traditional medicine. Through encounters, she is directed to the traditions of her family line and, through various initiations, will manage to heal[6].

She was initiated into the traditional Ndjembè rite in July 1948 at the age of 14. In July 1958, she ascended to the supreme grade of Ngwèvilo (priestess).[4]

Subsequently, she was introduced to the Bwiti Dissumba rite with iboga and then to that of Abanji , which opened the doors to her career as a traditional healer on a national and international scale.[7].

With a growing reputation, she works for a better knowledge of the use of iboga [8] and for an enhancement of the place of women in society.[9],[10].

Village Oyenano[edit]

Having become a priestess and initiatory master in the various aforementioned rites, the one now called Grandmother Bernadette, created the Village Oyenano association, a cultural space located in Libreville, intended for the practice of her traditional medicine activities, where she will receive patients from all over the world until the end of his life. In the Myene language, the word Oyenano means: “reunion”. The name of the village therefore symbolizes the unifying character that predominates in Grand-Mère Bernadette's therapeutic approach. She sees her role as that of a bridge between two shores, linking the visible and invisible worlds, the different cultures, and above all human beings with themselves.

Within the associative framework of the Village Oyenano, she participates in more than one way in many events of traditional medicine and all the cultural values ​​related to it. The village regularly hosts various community life events such as initiations into the Gabonese female rite, the Ndjembè, taking place every summer.

In 2018, Grand-Mère Bernadette celebrates there as an ngwèvilo (priestess) the sixtieth consecutive year of her Ndjembè during a special edition marked by record attendance[11].

Village Oyenano also hosted the last gathering of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in July 2015 [4] as well as the World Days for Cultural Diversity in May 2017 [12], each time under the aegis of UNESCO.

The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers[edit]

In 2001, an American woman named Dayna Wicks went to Grandmother Bernadette for treatment, accompanied by her companion and her mother-in-law Jyoti Ma. During Dayna's initiation into bwiti dissumba[13], Jyoti confides to Bernadette that she has recurring visions of several people gathered in prayer around a fire[14]. They are grandmothers who insist on bringing together certain women elders holders of traditional wisdom and transmitting to the world and to new generations a message of peace and ecology.

Grandmother Bernadette encourages her to listen to this sign and to put everything in place to achieve this meeting.

Following this trip, Dayna and Jyoti go in search of those who will form the future circle. They will bring together thirteen women from various continents, guardians of sacred knowledge related to ecology, health and spirituality.

The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers was born. It was held for the first time in October 2004 in New York State in the presence of the Dalaï Lama. Grandmother Bernadette is the only African representative.

The gatherings that follow are organized successively in the countries of origin of each of the thirteen members.[15]

The last meeting was held at Village Oyenano, at Grand-Mère Bernadette's, and resulted in the production of a film entitled Le Dernier Conseil by Jean-Claude Cheyssial[16].

Grandmother Bernadette at the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers held in Spear Fish, South Dakota, USA in 2014.
Grandmother Bernadette with the Dalai Lama during the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers held in India in Dharamsala in October 2006.


Heritage[edit]

After the death of Grandmother Bernadette in January 2021, the Village Oyenano association that she created continues to work for the preservation of her spiritual heritage and her healing methods. The banja (temple) that she set up there is still alive and open to everyone.[17] This sacred place retains its usual activity, patients are welcomed and cared for there according to the same skilfully proven protocol.

The courtyard of Village Oyenano.

Beyond her therapeutic and initiatory knowledge, the heritage transmitted by Grandmother Bernadette remains above all a message of peace and love. Through numerous conferences and publications, she has made every effort to disseminate it to as many people as possible, constantly taking care to bring people together.

She has always advocated cultural balance as a prerequisite for social balance. Her fight for the preservation of traditional values ​​remains very present throughout Gabon and even beyond.

In 2020, she informed the United Nations in Gabon of her wish to organize a march for peace and cultural diversity, according to the tradition of the original communities of Libreville. This march called Évandanganié has not taken place for many years.[10]

Her last public message was on the topic of transmission and was posted on social media just days before her death.[18]

Mother of 10 biological children, she leaves behind countless grandchildren, great-grandchildren and spiritual children scattered all over the world, as a gift of her knowledge transmitted to future generations.

Filmography[edit]

See also[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

As a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers:

  • Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet by Carol Schaefer , 2012.
  • Grandmothers Wisdom by Grandmothers Wisdom Project, 2020.[24]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Communiqué réunion clan Aguékaza" (pdf). L'Union: 19113. July 28, 2017.
  2. ^ "NOUVEL AN : CEUX QUI NOUS ONT QUITTÉS". L'Union. January 2, 2022.
  3. ^ "Ossouka Raponda à la Primature : La communauté Mpongwè remercie Ali Bongo". Gabonreview.com | Actualité du Gabon | (in French). July 27, 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  4. ^ a b c "Conclave à Libreville du Conseil international des 13 grand-mères autochtones". Gabon Reviews. July 22, 2015. Cite error: The named reference ":0" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Grandmother Bernadette Rebienot / Omyèné, Gabun/Afrika". Earth Oasis.
  6. ^ "Grandmother Bernadette Rebienot / Omyèné, Gabun/Afrika". Earth Oasis.
  7. ^ "Une guérisseuse gabonaise chez les chamans de l'Amazonie". L'Union: 4. June 15, 2002.
  8. ^ "L'iboga, une racine aux pouvoirs hallucinants". Le Monde. November 29, 2012.
  9. ^ "La mère, au cœur de la transmission des savoirs" (PDF). L'Union. May 21, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Nations Unies Gabon / Frank Mays ASSOUMOU (February 4, 2021). Hommage des Nations Unies du Gabon à Bernadette Rébienot. p. 15. Cite error: The named reference ":1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ David Mboussou. "Mouvement & Rituel". davidmboussou.com (in French).
  12. ^ "Un week-end riche de diversité culturelle" (PDF). L'Union. May 21, 2017.
  13. ^ Dayna Wicks (November 15, 2021). "The passing of a Spiritual Mountain..."
  14. ^ "Origins of the 13 Grandmothers Council - by Jyoti". YouTube. October 4, 2012.
  15. ^ "Major Accomplishments: A Prayer Unfolding".
  16. ^ "CINÉMA : LE "DERNIER CONSEIL" POUR L'ÉTERNITÉ". L'Union. May 9, 2016.
  17. ^ "The Way of the Mother: Embracing the Infinite". Grandmothers Wisdom. October 7, 2021.
  18. ^ Bernadette Rebienot (January 10, 2021). "La Transmission".
  19. ^ "Secrets de femmes". www.film-documentaire.fr. 1999.
  20. ^ "L'esprit de l'Ayahuasca". www.film-documentaire.fr.
  21. ^ "La guérisseuse de la forêt". www.film-documentaire.fr.
  22. ^ "Global grandmothers". Press-Republican. June 10, 2010.
  23. ^ "Le Dernier Conseil". www.film-documentaire.fr.
  24. ^ "Grandmothers Wisdom".


[[Category:21st-century Gabonese people]] [[Category:20th-century Gabonese people]] [[Category:WikiProject Gabon articles]] [[Category:WikiProject Africa articles]]

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