Akoma — The Adinkra symbol of Patience & Tolerance
In Twi, the language of the Akan people of Ghana, to tell someone to get a heart — nya akoma — is to tell them to be patient. To say someone has no heart — onni akoma — is to say they are impatient. The heart, in this tradition, is not the seat of feeling. It is the seat of endurance. Akoma, the heart symbol, carries a meaning deeper than love: the willingness to remain, to hold, to show up again and again for what you have committed to, on the days when it costs something.
