The slave trade

Wow today starts my last week in Benin. It is a bit sad. I am not ready to leave yet and I have met so many great people I may never see again in this life so saying goodbyes is a sad prospect. But on a brighter note I am meeting one of the aussie girls in Paris on the way home for a day or so which will be lovely.

Yesterday we went to Quidah (said weeda). Quidah was a major port for slave trading in West Africa. The port has a long history of changing hands between many nations and a sad history of the slave trade. It is also the voodoo capital of Benin and one of the largest practising voodoo towns in Africa. Been a very secretive religion the only evidence of it's existence in the town were statues to foreign god's and small huts dotting the lagoon shore and forest where voodoo rituals are practised.

The story of slave trading goes that the King never started the trade though he handsomely gained from it. At the peak an estimated 20,000 slaves were shipped out of the port every year. Of those packed into ships like sardines lying side by side chain in shackles, wallowing in human waste and suffering horendous abuse only 20% survived the 3 week journey. What one human being can do to another is repulsive beyond belief. In typical voodoo style the men had to walk around a tree of forgetfulness 9 times each time forgeting either wife, family or anything to do with thier previous life. Women walk 7 times to forget their past. Then a second tree was walked around- it was so their spirits could come back to rest in Benin after death from what I understand. During the boat trip men were positioned face down and the women face us so they could be abused. On arrival the dead and weak were thrown into mass graves. If the sea was bad during the trip the dead and weak were thrown into the sea- some still alive. At the slave markets those slaves with diahoreal diseases have cloth stuck up there anus's and were propped up against walls etc so the purchasers would not notices their poor condition. We may niavely think this kind of thing doesn't happen today. What about the sex slave industry, the child slave industry, the genocide in Rwanda, the Sudan today and they many places we don't hear about. Thankfully God promises to one day restore this broken world and to bring justice.

At Quidah today marking the slave port is a memorial. It contains a gate of no return. Marking where the slaves left from and a gate of return for their spirits to return through. The irony is that the idea of a gate of return is related to the voodoo spirit world and in the centre of the gate is a Christian cross. The people here live in such fear of spirits and want to appease all spirits so they mix a bit of many religions to cover their bases. Sadly for them there is only one God and saviour Jesus Christ.

The gate of no return for the slaves

The gate of return.

We walked the slave road back to the villiage. Today the beach and road are so beautiful and peaceful. It is a sad irony.

Peaceful view from the slave route.

Below are a few pictures from the road trip home. Often the drive in Benin is as interesting as the point of arrival.

The coffin manufacturers. It amazes me how such fine art can be made in such primative buildings and with simple tools. These people are talented. The furniture here is made and sold in similar road side buildings.

A larger gasoline station. Apparently the gas is imported from across the border in Nigeria.

In typical aussie stlye we had a great bonfire on the beach last night. For most of us it felt a little like home. We played frisbee and volleyball, toasted marshmellows and drank coke. It is nice and really important I think for all of us working here to take some time out for rest and relaxation. It was a fun night with a beautiful sunset and a starry sky with a spectacular moon that lit the beach up.

Au Re Voir

Love

Naomi