Sister Somayah Kambui Articles

Photo By Peter Gorman For High Times Magazine

My childhood favorite film is THE SONG OF BERNADETTE. It's a story about a girl who was jailed for praying and making the lives of those around her better. Sister Somayah was Los Angeles' Bernadette. Her use of hemp and prayer in healing set new standards as she fought the system for the right to grow and consume hemp...though, unlike Saint Bernadette, she did not go quietly, and we are all so grateful for that. Somayah was a champion and her spirit still is. She too is now a spirit and not a ghost.

Below are a few articles about the work of Sister Somayah Kambui, a hemp hero whose soul moved from life to beyond life on Thanksgiving Day, 2008. Somayah lived twice plus 8 years the average life expectancy of a person with sickle cell. Hemp, her strain was known as Nigritian Keif grown with sickle cell in mind, was her foundation healing medicine.

Sister Somayah was an evolutionary researcher in the field of hemp medicine. She worked on the language and passage of Prop 215 that for the first time voiced the will of the people to legalize hemp, and produced the first 10 Los Angeles Million Global Marijuana marches.

Somayah lived dedicated to the struggle to remove all restrictions from the hemp plant so it can grow its role in healing ourselves, our relationships and our environment.

High Times Magazine
Sister Somayah Kambui Burning the Bush For Sickle Cell
December 17, 2002
By Peter Gorman

Med Pot Activist Sister Somayah Kambui In Hot Water Again
Wed, Jun 12, 2002 12:00 am
By Peter Gorman

LA Jury Acquits Sister Somayah of Medical Marijuana Charges
CA NORML News

Sister Somayah hospitalized,
a Peter McWilliams sequel?
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 18:18:00 -0800
Drugwar.com From: "David Crockett Williams" "D. Paul Stanford"

Her site is still up, www.geocities.com/sistersomayah. Geocities has frozen her account for non use so updates on arrangements are being posted asap here at the USA Hemp Museum's blog HEMP FOR VICTORY NOW. Check back for lastest updates and pass on the good she did to those who need it.

TELL OBAMA, LET MY HEMP PLANT GO!!!

Our Sister Somayah Kambui Is Gone?

This is not the official family obituary but notes from some of the many people who were inspired by the life's work of Los Angeles' Hemp Hero Sister Somayah Kambui.

It is with profound gratitude for her decades of service that we report the physical death of Sister Somayah Kambui, founder of the Crescent Alliance Self Help for Sickle Cell, Hemp Is Hep, and the producer of the first 10 Los Angeles Million Global Marijuana Marches, who passed on Thanksgiving Day, 2008. Her brother R. W. Akile said she went in peace and he felt her say 'I am not in pain no more.' She looked like a Egyptian royalty.

Sister Somayah is a legendary hemp farmer and activist in Los Angeles, known for getting 4-5 high quality hemp, Nigritian Keif, crops a year out of her back yard.



Somayah used hemp to more than double her life expectancy with sickle cell and was instrumental in including sickle cell in the language of Prop 215, as well as getting out the vote. 13 years later, when even in 2008 hemp was voted legal in 9 out of the 10 states where it was on the ballot, it was still illegal to blow hemp smoke over her as she passed from life to beyond life. She is dancing in the smoke now.

Sister Somayah was the first to notice how the DEA always showed up at harvest time and took the best crops. It's what they used the helicopters for to fly frequently over her back yard. The DEA would come in, bust her like she was a dog, and then she would be acquitted in court. Her treatment in prison was inhumane. The prison system was not designed to assist people with sickle cell. She fought on to the end anyway, knowing her work was too important to quit.

At one trial she was found not guilty on all 15 counts they brought against her, but OMG the toll it took on her body and soul fighting the government without funds. She would then have to fight over getting her hemp plants back and though court ordered, the ones she received were not even hers and beyond consumption value.

The number of computers the LAPD seized that contained her decades of research she no longer had an accurate count of. They never gave those back. She had just purchased a new computer to try to reconstruct the material when it's reported the pain of sickle cell was too much. She also said she and Akile were having a rough time trying to get hemp seeds started earlier this fall.

Somayah was the founder of Crescent Alliance Self Help For Sickle Cell, an organization of sickle cell patients who used hemp to help manage their illness. Somayah recommended large doses of hemp seed oil which gave positive results. She pressed high quality hemp seed oil on her beloved machine donated by friends, Nigritia, and shared the oil with patients.

She would share her plants with sick people in the neighborhood who needed forbidden medicine to live and many lived longer than they would have. Folks would come to her home as late as 2 a.m. begging for medicine for a sick person they have home. Rest is important in healing and medical grade hemp helps people relax and rest. Stress kills and medical grade hemp reduces stress. Recently she was in conversations with colleges about her research in applying hemp to sickle cell. Dr. David Satcher consulted with Sister Somayah on the subject.

In 1999, fellow hemp activist Dana Beal approached Sister Somayah to produce the million marijuana marches he had started in New York in the 70's in Los Angeles.




Her 10th and most recent march was May Day, 2008.




Again, we offer profound gratitude for the life and sacrifice of Hemp Hero Sister Somayah Kambui, whose work will pay off a trillion fold should President Obama do the right thing and 'let our hemp plant go.'

Well done, grand and glorious Sister Somayah. Well Done. Thank you Richard M. Davis, R. W. Akile and other members who are her family and friends who stood at her side during her transition days.

Now a few words soul to soul.



LOVING YOU DEAD OR ALIVE (c)
(A thought to help understand another's passing onto afterlife)

On the other side of the trauma,
Of my body passing away,
Please understand that
Death is only a transformation.

Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly,
Like a hurricane becoming a breeze,
Like water becoming steam,
Like an egg becoming a human being,
I've become one of your angels.

Know that the soul part of me,
That which you cannot physically see,
Is with you all ways,
Loving you, like you love me.

So cry until the tears are gone,
Love and bless me with your song,
And know that in time,
Your sorrow will be washed away.

Continue to pray for every soul every day,
I know the Lord is showing the way,
For us to meet and laugh at Heaven’s Gate.

I love you in the eternal now,
Dead or Alive.

{I'll have a pound of recreational grade for you when you get here.}

We'll post more information here as we get it. Sister Somayah leaves an empowered hemp community who is committed to getting the job done of restoring the hemp plant to it's rightful role in healing the planet, and ourselves. We have work to do.

Shifting From The Industrial To The Information Age With Hemp

There is a simple way to complete the shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Legalize, utilize and tax hemp.

For the toxic Industrial Age to florish, keeping people on toxic energy, medicine and environmental practices, hemp had to be illegal. This emerald Information Age can thrive off of the power found in the hemp plant.

We've made nature illegal and wonder why we have problems with our environment, economy and health care systems. Hemp was voted legal in 9 out of 10 states where it was on the ballot in 2008.

Real change is found in supporting the Will of the People and hemp is that Will. We pray that President Obama is telling the truth about a green revolution. He needs to pull an FDR and end hemp prohibition. Just do it. Radical but it will work.

Hemp is a biomass champion that scrubs the air of excess CO2 as it grows and burns cleans as biofuel. This one two punch can have a positive impact on low cost self produced clean energy and help reverse global warming.

If we grow hemp on just 10% of unused federal land, we can have a powerful, positive impact while restoring the family farm. A great book on the subject is Richard M. Davis' HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION.

Hemp's ability to make 50,000 plus new, non-toxic products could give the international community, as well as America, a much needed shot in the financial arm. JOBS, JOBS and BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. Tax recreational hemp at 20% and he'll be having meetings about what to do with the extra money.

Effective hemp medicine, which has been used successfully for thousands of years, attacks disease at its cause, stress. Stress kills and medical grade hemp reduces stress.

A great hemp warrior, Los Angeles' Sister Somayah Kambui is in hospice at the LA VA hospice. In May she sent her lung tumor into remission , but it's reported that her sickle cell came back stronger 5 months later. As her caregivers gather around her, even though she worked on both the language and campaign of Prop 215, produced 10 annual LA marijuana marches, and did ground breaking research in the field of sickle cell and hemp (more than doubling her life expectancy), she is denied by law the ability to smell relaxing, stress relieving hemp smoke before she, if she, passes. With hemp, she has pulled back from death's door many times over the last 20-30 years. Like Peter McWilliams , she is sentenced to death by DEA stress.

Sister Somayah at her 10th Annual Los Angeles Global Marijuana March
May, 2008

Somebody please tell President Obama to let our hemp plant go, let nature be nature.

For more on hemp check the works of hemp activists including Jack Herer, Chris Conrad, Atty. Bruce Margolin, and Richard M. Davis of the USA Hemp Museum.

Calling All LA Hemp Angels For Sister Somayah Kambui

Sister Somayah's HEY MR. DA

Keep Sister Somayah close to the light.

It is with profound gratitude for the work she has done, that we must report that the great Los Angeles Hemp Hero, Sister Somayah Kambui, is in hospice at the Los Angeles Veterans Administration's Medical Center. Somayah is a trail blazer in the field of hemp medicine. Her research on hemp and sickle cell is consulted by medical colleges and hemp activists including Jack Herer, Chris Conrad, Atty. Bruce Margolin, Dr. David Satcher, and others.

Sister Somayah's caregiver team, who is battling the VA system with requests for medical attention, needs support and volunteers to sit with her during this time. Richard M. Davis of the USA Hemp Museum, a caregiver and frequent hospital visitor, said he was able to get the nurse to give Somayah some hemp food.

Somebody please ask the governor to have mercy on Sister Somayah and let her care givers give her hemp smoke until she goes or heals. After all, Sister Somayah was instrumental in the passage of Prop 215 and the sponsor/producer of all 10 Los Angeles Million/Global Marijuana Marches. She deserves to know that her beloved hemp plant will be free. After all, even the governor smoked more than once.

Her loyal brother R. W. Akile reports that Sister Somayah, who has more than doubled her life expectancy with sickle cell, has decided no more pain, she's had enough at this point in her heroic struggle. She asked him to let her go, though like the rest of us who love her, he isn't ready either.

"Her arm is swollen beyond measure - we have to stay on the nurses at the Hospice.

Her number is 818 891-7711 - Moore-Khaliq she is in Bldg. 99 of the Sepulveda VA Medical Center the Nursing Home on the phone it will be number 4 for the after hour access.

To get there take the 405 to Roscoe, left turn to Woodley, right turn north to the VA Complex a huge Green Space make a right turn and go to the middle of the Block and turn in and go to the far end of the complex building 99. "

We'll keep you posted on her progress. Thanks for your prayers and actions. Please share the word for prayers and tell Obama to let our hemp plant go.

Ganja Smokers Remix (Fallen Soldiers Riddim)

Please pray for the great hemp warrior from Los Angeles, CA Sister Somayah Kambui.

Jack Herer TV

The great Jack Herer, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes and Chuck Jacobs are talking hemp with the series on Jack Herer TV.

Here's today's entries of his show. Enjoy and support unconditional hemp legalization now to save ourselves, our environment and our economy.

Part One



Part Two



Part Three



People do what they think they can get away with. It is up to We The People, not President Obama, to change this nation.

DEMAND that Obama pull an FDR and end hemp prohibition as a way to heal the world.



He said he would do whatever it takes. Removing restrictions off of the nation's #1 cash crop and earning a fair tax from it is a small but powerful step.

MARIJUANA SONG

Plant The Seed - Aleta Kim

Enjoy!!!

Prohibition Ended!

We pray that president elect Barack Obama follows FDR's lead, and one of the first things he does in office is end hemp prohibition.

This process should include the immediate release of all non violent people in jail for hemp possession and/or sales.

Next, large scale hemp growing should begin as described in the book HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION by Richard M. Davis, founder and curator of the USA Hemp Museum, www.hempmuseum.org

HEMP FOR VICTORY

Americans Reject Bush Drug War Doctrine--Landslide At The Ballot Box

Now that we have President Elect Barack Obama, who inhaled frequently because that was the point, and hemp has won in 9 out of 10 states, demand the freedom to use hemp to solve our problems now. Like FDR before him, ending prohibition against the hemp plant should be job one.

We've made the peace pipe illegal and wonder why we have a problem with violence. We've made part of nature illegal and wonder why we have a problem with the environment. We've made effective medicine illegal and wonder why we have a health care crisis. We make it illegal to grow hemp food and wonder why we have a problem with hunger in America. We use our police force to raid farms and their ancillary businesses and wonder why we have a problem with our economy. Ending hemp prohibition would help fix the economy, heal the environment, take a lot of the demand off of the health care system, and solve many other problems we are dealing with.

Consider New Year's Day, 2009. 1 1 9. On the first day of the new year, Emancipation Proclamation Day, 911 in reverse day, enjoy hemp. Hemp clothes, foods, medicines, etc. anything and everything hemp. Get yourself a copy of a/k/a Tommy Chong, A Film By Josh Gilbert, and throw off the stupidity behind government. Stop using the police to raid fields and their crops. Legalizing nature will help restore balance in the face of global warming. Re-instituting hemp is the courageous thing to do.

For a clue about how much public support there is here's an expert report on 2008 election results from NORML.

"Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Americans Reject Bush Drug War Doctrine--Landslide At The Ballot Box Category: News and Politics

Washington, DC: Millions of Americans nationwide cast votes Tuesday in favor of marijuana law reform, approving nine out of ten ballot measures seeking to liberalize penalties on cannabis use and possession.

In Massachusetts, 65 percent of voters approved Question 2, which replaces criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana (punishable by up to six-months in jail and a $500 fine) with a civil fine of no more than $100. More than 1.9 million Massachusetts voters (and all but three cities) backed the measure - a greater total than the number of voters who endorsed President Elect Barack Obama (1.88 million). Question 2 is expected to become law within 30 days - making Massachusetts the thirteenth state to decriminalize the personal use and possession of cannabis. However, opponents of the measure - which include the state's governor, attorney general, and all twelve state district attorneys - note that lawmakers still have the legal option to amend or repeal the new law.

In Michigan, 63 percent of voters approved Proposal 1, which legalizes the physician-supervised use and cultivation of medicinal cannabis by state-authorized patients. More than 3 million voters endorsed the measure, which received approximately 150,000 more votes in Michigan than did Obama. Proposal 1 goes into effect on December 4th, at which time nearly one-quarter of the US population will live in a state that authorizes the legal use of medical cannabis.

Thousands of voters in various municipalities also backed local ballot initiatives supportive of marijuana law reform. In Arkansas, 66 percent of Fayetteville (population: 67,000) voters approved Question 16, which directs law enforcement to make activities related to the investigation and prosecution of adults who possess up to one ounce of marijuana their lowest priority. The measure also requires the city clerk to submit letters to state and federal legislators urging them to "take immediate steps to enact similar ['deprioritization'] laws."

In Hawaii, Big Island (population: 172,000) voters approved a similar initiative (Ballot Question 1), which directs law enforcement to make activities related to the investigation and arrest of adults who possess up to 24 ounces of cannabis and/or 24 plants their lowest priority. The measure, which voters backed by nearly a 3 to 2 margin, also forbids the County Council from accepting government funding to promote federal marijuana eradication efforts on the Big Island.

In Massachusetts, voters in four state House districts (encompassing 15 towns) passed nonbinding public policy questions directing each district's state representative to vote in favor of legislation to legalize the medical use of cannabis. More than 70 percent of voters in each district backed the measures.

Finally, voters in Berkeley, California endorsed Measure JJ, which eliminates local limits on the quantity of medicinal cannabis that may be possessed by patients, and liberalizes municipal zoning guidelines for patient dispensaries.

By contrast, California voters rejected a statewide sentencing reform measure (Proposition 5), which sought expand the diversion of non-violent offenders to drug treatment and would have decreased minor marijuana penalties to a non-criminal infraction. Numerous politicians, including Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat US Senator Dianne Feinstein, joined forces with law enforcement and the California Beer and Beverage Distributors to lobby against the measure, which gained just 40 percent of the vote.

"Voters on Election Day demonstrated overwhelmingly that they favor political reform in this country, and that reform includes new directions in marijuana policy," NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "These election results emphasize that the voters are well ahead of the politicians when it comes to the decriminalization and legalization of cannabis for adults.

"Let us hope that President Elect Obama and the Democrat majority in Congress recognize that marijuana law reform is a populist issue. Voters should not have to take to the ballot box to enact sensible marijuana law reforms; these reforms should be championed by their elected officials."

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director."

At the USA Hemp Museum, Richard M. Davis, founder, curator, we're adding more information and ideas concerning hemp. Come visit and enjoy.

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago