Ikara retreat centre is located in the southern zone of Costa Rica.. We are the representative of the traditional Village Mboka A Nzambe in the west. The centre is owned and operated by ourselves (Jamie and Melinda Atherton) - Miobe Nganga Kuma Bwenze and myself, Mabandzi Manga his wife and spiritual partner.
At Ikara, we advocate primarily the protection and preservation of indigenous knowledge and way of life. All cultures, worldwide. While our skin is white in colour we are the spiritual children of King Adumangana, who is the King of Primates, King of the Babongo people. King Adumangana is the holder of the universal knowledge of the Babongo Pygmies who were the people who spawned the spirituality known as BWETE and they are the protectors of the plant IBOGA.
King Adumangana and his village, Mboka A Nzambe (The Universal Village of God) work tirelessly to maintain all traditions, rituals, ceremonies, and the way of life of the Babongo Pygmies . SA Majesty is an supremely intelligent and benevolent man who works tirelessly for his people and his culture and for TETA NZIAMBE KANA. He is well aware of the interest in IBOGA from the west and its increased usage and scrutiny from science.
OUR STORY Mboka A Nzambe is one of the last traditional BWETE villages in Gabon. They live in traditional structures all made by hand using only that which is found in the surrounding forests and using ancient universal blueprints. All people live in the village full time and have come from many different regions of Africa (it is God's Universal Village). The primary dialect that everyone is expected to learn is Babongo. Everyone wears traditional dress, food is cooked on the fire, and the village is basically devoid of all modern technologies or colonial influence. Surprisingly though, Mboka A Nambe is one of the few villages that have an online presence. For years they have had people from the west contacting them about being initiated into their culture. None have been invited . If the village were into making money they could have made a fortune by now but their only motivation is truly for the preservation of their culture, their spirituality and way of life.
Kuma had been in contact with the village for a while, and he was eventually invited by King Adumangana to come and join the village and he was initiated as a MIOBE NGANGA. He was also taken deep into the Babongo territories in DIBIOS to do his rite of passage MWELI before his initiation could be completed. His Majesty felt it of great importance that if he was to initiate Kuma as he was intending, he wanted him to come to the heart of the BWETE spirituality, to Dibois, the home of the Babongo Pygmies and go through MWELI as he himself had done long ago. Kuma is the first westerner to be taken there for this great privilege. It is important for people to understand that when someone is truly initiated, it is a lifetime of work for the person that has agreed to initiate him. King Adumangana is responsible for his son Kuma in every way shape and form. It is a great honor to be working under the guidance of King Adumanagana but it is also a huge responsibility and lifetime vocation which is often very hard.
King Adumangana wanted an advocate in the west and he saw in Kuma someone who understood esoteric knowledge, the teachings and spirituality of BWETE. His Majesty wanted people in the west to experience TRUE BWETE, not just IBOGA in a retreat setting. The use of IBOGA is inseparable from its ritual practices. He wants people to see who the Babongo truly are. They are people that have been marginalized throughout time not only by their government, their people and also other indigenous tribes in Africa.
BWETE is all about unity, and for this reason, I was initiated into OMBUDI so that we could truly do this work in the west as it is traditionally done. It is important in this tradition for there to be both male and female represented. As we know, the physical realm is the realm of polarities, or dualities, and it is important to have representation at either end of the swinging pendulum so that when it settles, in the centre, we have a connection to ALL THAT IS, GOD, TETA NZIAMBE KANA. It is very important for us to follow everything that we have been taught. We feel it is a great honour to be in this position together, Everyday we work towards the greater cause which is the brotherhood of man and freedom for humanity, one person at a time.
We are not a retreat centre. The main aim of this arm of Mboka A Nzambe in the west is that we screen people who may wish to visit MBOKA A NZIAMBE, Gabon, Africa. This is King Adumangana's wish. He wants people to come and experience the traditional process of rebirth which is a two week process that results in a spiritual rebirth as part of an ancient ceremony known as MOSUSU A NZIAMBE. But it is important that the village is protected and they have had contact with people from the west before so they now have a process in place to bring the right people to the village. This is King Adumangana;s design. It is important to come to do a GHIENO A NZIAMBE IBOGA ceremony with us in Costa RIca so we can see who you are and how you react to IBOGA. Then, you can go to Gabon. Gabon is the heartland of spirituality. When you take IBOGA at Mboka a Nzambe, it is very different even to having it as part of GHIENO A NZAIMBE. You have to be strong. Don't misread what we are saying, at MBOKA A NZAMBE every one is welcome, it is the "Universal Village of God", no matter what race, creed, color, or divisive mechanism you can think of, all are welcome, but we need to keep the village safe. When you take IBOGA truths are revealed and for the western mind that lives a life of delusion and lies (and often in a very well intended way), this can result in a very difficult time for some people if they are not ready, His Majesty wants the people that are ready to experience MOSUSU, so that you may be reborn and return to who you are as a better version of self and adapt what you have learned for your own faith, your family, and your everyday life. Because it is the people that always make change. By changing your life you always change the world. When you remain focused on that which is you, there are no problems because in every moment there is only choice.
Kuma and myself are spiritualists at heart, we always have been and we have worked a lifetime together to explore all aspects of our psychology and this led to understanding of our greater psyche. IBOGA spoke to us both individually and King Adumangana took us in and enrolled us through our initiations in the University of Knowledge. We graduated from the Universe of Sensing and enrolled into the Universe of Knowing, We are here so that others may commune with their soul through IBOGA. There is nothing that is not of your own making. You create everything you see before you, period. Some people look for magic in their lives but the magic already exists IN life and the only thing missing is your own realisation of that.
So, we stand alone in the west, offering traditional BABONGO MIOBE OMBUDI IBOGA Ceremonies as taught to us by our Spiritual Father King Adumangana. All profits from our work here go directly to MBOKA A NZAMBE and the 7 BABONGO villages we support in Dibois. There is no colonial exploitation of a culture and their sacred plant here, we are simply "Flowers of Humanity'' working under the guidance of our Spiritual Father who has put us here in this role so that through IBOGA people may free themselves from a lifetime of Self Imposed Nonsense (SIN) and reconnect to consciousness to find true joy in their own creaturehood, their souls expression in flesh.