Five facts about the late Asantehemaa you didn’t know

Mourners of the late Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II in Kumasi have been praising the Asantehemaa as a mother, unifier and conflict resolution expert.

But there is more to the personality of the queenmother whose death has drawn thousands of people across the world to the Asante Kingdom. TV3 brings you five facts about the Asantehemaa you didn’t know about, courtesy historian and traditional researcher, Osei Bonsu Sarfo.

1. Nana Afia Kobi was born four years after the Yaa Asantewaa War

2. She was born nine years after the Asantehene Prempeh the first had been exiled to the Seychelles Island.

3. Nana Afia Kobi grew up in Nwaase in the Brong Ahafo Region and Kwadaso in Kumasi.

4. She was initiated into the Anglican Church in her teens after she went through puberty rites.

5. Until she became the Asantehemaa, she was a trader who dealt in lumber and clothes