On the way to Ouidah

11 Aout 2007 (8/7/07)

Today, we are headed to Ouidah (actually, we’re on the bus right now). Ouidah was one of the main slave trade ports. It’s curious to me that they have preserved a place that brought so much sadness and betrayal to this country. What do the people of Benin feel when they come here? What will Crystal feel as that’s a part of her cultural heritage? I think Crystal and my pre-sleep talk will be interesting tonight.

Right now, I’m curious as to what this site looks like. All I know is that it is on the water. I’m not feeling emotional or sad or guilty; this is part of the past that got us here, and not all of history was pretty. The museum at Abomey was a reminder that war and slavery is a part of many cultural heritages, not just ours. Slavery was a complicated issue that both sides helped to perpetuate.

Back to Ouidah’s preservation, I suppose it’s similar to keeping the Nazi concentration camps. By keeping these sites standing, we own our past and give testimony to the things we will no longer tolerate.

As for my own feelings about slavery, it is a horrible thing that happened in our history, but it isn’t my guilt to own. It belongs to the past. My job is to learn from it and not act or do things that amount to “slavery” now. Ouidah is a reminder to me that there are other ways to enslave, outcast and segregate people then putting them in chains. I think I still have a lot to learn there.