THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Emphasising on awareness as the key to healing yourself, Dr Kwesi Anan Odum, the META-Health Master Trainer from Germany, in an interview with Shivi Verma, explains, “If you find the reason for a symptom, it goes away.”
I saw Dr Kwesi Anan Odum for the first time in 2017, during the first META-Health Conference organised by Dr Anu Mehta in Mumbai. He stood out amongst all the other panellists with his sheer brilliance, panache, and confidence, and virtually owned the stage as he spoke on META Medicine and Astromedicine.
I was immediately drawn to his personality and wanted to interview him. But since he was caught up in multiple engagements, it was not possible to pin him down for an interview right away. We promised to connect over Skype and then forgot to keep in touch with each other as other more immediate concerns occupied us.
However, in May 2020, I came to know that Dr Kwesi was available on Zoom and was willing to be interviewed. A German by birth and an African by origin, Dr Kwesi is an ophthalmologist, who received his medical degree from the University of Kiel, Germany. He is also a META-Health Master Trainer, Genius Report Coach (both of which are a further development of the human design) and Colour Psychology trainer. Dr Kwesi’s work goes beyond ophthalmology and is focussed on personal transformation. “I use the eyes as a bridge to enable clients to find out how they see themselves and inspire them to create new possibilities in their lives,” he says.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Q. Please tell us something about your life.
My father left Ghana in 1961 to study medicine in Germany. He had a strong personality and was a kind and caring man. Being a doctor was not only a profession but a passion for him. My mother followed him there, and that’s how I was born in Germany. It was a time when racism was strongly prevalent. He married again after he and my mother separated. My German mother was also a doctor, and when they completed their medical training, we all moved to Ghana. From the age of five to six was the best time of my life. There was so much freedom to be with nature, which was completely different from Germany. But then, in Ghana, the political situation worsened. There was a military coup, and my father had to go back to Germany.
He said that though it was his sacred duty to serve the Ghanaian people, he wanted his children to grow up in a safe environment and finish school before he went back to Ghana. In 1988, when my youngest sister finished school, he went back. At that time I was already in medical school. At the end of six years, I realised I wanted to become an eye doctor.
Q. So what made you interested in META-Health?
I decided to do my last year practicals in Ghana as I wanted to go back and serve my people. Unfortunately, the three months that I lived in Ghana in 1990 were shocking for me because the situation was very severe over there. There was a lot of mismanagement and not many resources from the ministry of health were available to work for the people. I could not cope with it. I realised I was more European than Ghanaian. I told my father that I could not work in Ghana. He was a bit disappointed, but he accepted it. I continued my training in Germany, became an eye doctor, and studied traditional medicine. But I always asked myself what caused a particular disease and was never satisfied with what I learnt at medical school.
Every time a patient of cataract would come, I would ask, “Why did you get it in July? What happened just before you developed a cataract?” And all of them had the same story: they either lost their partner or spouse, or the children had flown the nest. I felt there must be a pattern to it. I did some research and found out about German New Medicine on the Internet. Then I got a newsletter saying that there was a lecture happening 10 km away from where I was living. I went there and found that the medical information being shared was brilliant, and my paradigm shifted. For the first time, I got to understand the real cause of diseases instead of just symptoms and how to deal with them. It completely opened my eyes. The lady talked about Dr Badar, the founder of META-Health. I went back, researched on the Internet about Dr Badar, and found out about META medicine.
Q. Your father left Ghana for Germany at a young age. Even you had to go back to Germany after spending a year in Ghana, where you said you were the happiest. You also mentioned that at that time racism was at its peak in Germany. So how did you and your family cope with this cultural and racial discrimination prevalent at that time?
My father, before he came to Germany, wanted to study theology. But Ghana needed scientists, doctors, and engineers, so he decided to study medicine and came to Germany for advanced studies. In Germany, he used to go to church every Sunday. The fifth and sixth time he went there, the priest took him aside and told him not to come there anymore.
My father wanted to know the reason. The priest told him that none of the white people in the church wanted him there. The church was meant only for white people. From that time, my father never talked about God and lost all faith in the Christian religion. Because of this, he never felt at home in Germany and decided to go back to Ghana once his scholarship was over. My mother came to Ghana two years later, and the culture of Germany was completely different from what she had known in Ghana. In Ghana, being a mother was considered the ultimate thing for women. But in Germany, just being a mother was not acknowledged at all. She never overcame that culture shock and could not adjust to the life in Germany. My parents separated, and she left to live in London where there was a big community of African people, where she felt accepted.
Q. Were you received better by the Germans because you were born there and had German citizenship?
Even though I was born in Germany, I was not a German because their citizenship laws are different from that of the US or UK. I carried a Ghanaian passport. Later, when I grew up, I had to apply for a German passport during my studies. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, it was very tough living in Germany.
Often, I would ask for rooms to live in while I was a student there and my father had left for Ghana. Over the phone, they would agree because I sounded like a German, but as soon as they would see me they would say, “Sorry, rooms are not available” because I was a black man. When I was on the phone I was accepted, when I was in my doctor’s robe I was accepted, but as soon as I was out of these things I experienced racism.
My way of coping with all this was by competing with the whites with my intellect. I was good at school, as well as sports. My father was a medical doctor and my family was multicoloured. My father and my German mother had a child because of which we had all colours and shades in the family. So my family was my support system. Plus I loved playing football as I was good at it and could give it back to the Whites through it in the football field.
Q. Do you feel that over the years, people’s awareness has shifted? That there is greater awareness and not as much racism as there used to be in the past? Even the whites are agitating against racism today in the world as was seen recently in America. Have you experienced this shift?
My experience of racism is full of ups and downs. I remember one incident. I had come to India in the same year Nelson Mandela was released from prison. I was invited to the wedding of a friend who was marrying a German man in the traditional Hindu way in Mumbai. After that, I took a plane to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and went boat-riding in the backwaters. There, a few fishermen saw me. They began to wave at me on seeing me and began to chant ‘Mandela, Mandela.’ On the beaches, so many people approached me and wanted to know about me. They saw me as a person. They wanted to know where I came from and how I lived my life back home. They told me that they were very happy that India was the first country Mandela had chosen to visit after he became the president. I had never experienced something like this in Germany or in any other country. Many did not have the opportunity to travel, so they were just happy to share their lives with me and know more about other countries and people living there. So there have been positive experiences as well as negative ones.
Coming to racism, when we look at it from the META-Health perspective, I realise that racism is a mental disorder. It is completely irrational because we are one human race. For if it weren’t so, we would not be able to have inter-racial marriages and have children out of them. Everybody who knows biology knows what race means, and so the hate we see against coloured people does not make sense. That is why I love India so much; the experience that I had when I came to India was just amazing. I have learnt a lot from people in India. The way they are dealing with the pandemic—especially the homoeopathic doctors—is impressive. First of all, homoeopathy works. Secondly, homoeopathy goes deep into the core, the source, and the personality of the patient, and is not just about the symptoms. The way Indian doctors have learnt how to approach different aspects of a disease through homoeopathy is just amazing. When I told the homoeopathic doctors of India how much I hold them in high regard for their service to mankind and homoeopathy, they were so humbled and surprised. They are not used to being acknowledged.
Q. What made you decide to become an eye doctor? What was the deeper cause?
I specialised in ophthalmology because my professor from this discipline was very caring towards me. If I missed an important class, he would send for me. Moreover, I love the eyes. They are small, clear, and with the eyes, you can see the light. Also, as a doctor, you do not have to go to the patient; the patient comes to you.
Later, observing myself and my colleagues, I realised that doctors specialise in those subjects which are their blind spot or their weakest point. I know of cardiologists who are absolutely heartless. I know gynaecologists who hate women, and dermatologists who do not feel well in their own skin. So I asked myself, “Why did you become an eye doctor; what are you blind about?” Interestingly, I discovered for myself what I did not see. I was always looking for the methodology through which we can be at peace with ourselves. I later realised that we do not need anything. We are whole, complete, and perfect. If we fully accept ourselves and see ourselves as spiritual beings and not only biological beings, then we can rediscover the full regenerative potential in ourselves. All that we need to do is to be ourselves to heal ourselves. It may take us 10,000 years to get there, but we will someday.
Q. How has the knowledge of META-Health helped you in your personal life?
I have seen that when I get symptoms and I can discover the reason behind it, they go away fast. For the past two weeks, I have been doing webinars, coaching clients, assisting people, friends and family, and I had become very exhausted. I felt overwhelmed and got symptoms of the heart getting affected. As soon as I realised this, I told myself that I have got to stop. I rested, slept, and the symptoms almost went away. Earlier, I would have gone on working non-stop even if the body were screaming for rest and rejuvenation.
I used to often meet my good friend Dr Badar, my Meta-Health mentor and Master Trainer, when I was working with him. Once I was discussing with him the specialist syndrome, where it becomes difficult to explain things to people in simple terms, which I was coming across quite frequently. He remarked, “What’s wrong with you? The way you are breathing, you seem to have got asthma symptoms?” I replied that I knew where it was coming from. “I carried a lot of anger because nobody understood what I was trying to say. You are the first one who is getting what I am saying. Now I have symptoms in my lungs which have nursed anger.” As soon as I said this, the symptoms went away. So the moment you become aware of the beginning of the symptom, it goes away. I had gone to Belgium for a workshop, where I was served eggs for breakfast. Someone asked me what I was eating. I said, “Eggs, but neither do they look like eggs nor do they taste like eggs.” Very soon, I had herpes-like eruptions on my lips. Instantly, I realised that it was because I had not acknowledged the eggs.
I just said, “I acknowledge the food that I ate,” and it went away instantly. The more awareness we have, the more we get aware of the beginning of the symptom, the easier it gets to heal ourselves.
Q. Has awareness led you to the world of pure spirituality? Are you interested in exploring this world?
Yes. I will have to credit India again with it. In 2015, I had come to India for the META-Health conference where I had held a workshop, and there I met someone who had come from Pune. I had heard about the Rajneesh Ashram over there, and my curiosity was piqued. I was curious to know about this man who had a huge following in the West. So I, along with Anu and her husband, left for Pune the next day. As soon as we reached there, we wanted to attend the meditation class, but since we were a minute late, the doors were closed on us. So we just sat down beside the pool, and in a few moments, I felt completely peaceful and joyful. This was something I had never experienced before. The next day, I was sleeping, and I felt an earthquake shake me up. I looked around but there was no reaction from anyone. I looked up the Internet, but there was no mention of an earthquake. I asked Anu and her husband about it, but they looked at me as though I had gone bonkers. So I thought I must have imagined it. The next day, I had the same experience while waiting for my flight to the UK. I felt an earthquake of sorts, but within myself. I realised that all my fixed beliefs and thought patterns were being shaken. It was like a wake-up call to really move into spirituality. Because that is the only thing which can shake up everything and change the whole world.
Q. You also practice Astromedicine. What is it? Can you shed some light on it?
When we look at Meta-Health, we have a deep understanding of the conflict behind the disease. Ten people might experience the same shocking incident, but not everyone will show the symptoms, or some people will show symptoms in one organ and others will show it in another organ. With Astromedicine, we can discover the patterns of experience or the predisposition of a person towards an ailment. Which experiences can trigger certain kinds of ailments gets explained through astrology. I am learning Western astrology as well as Vedic astrology, and I realise that while Western astrology is focussed more on the material aspect of life, Vedic astrology is concerned more about karma and the five types of bodies an individual possesses. All of this is very exciting and adding to my repertoire of the knowledge of man’s interconnection with the Universe and the deep-seated spiritual aspect of health and wholeness.