AFRICA: Painful reminders

Some of you know that Betsy and I have been in West Africa for several weeks volunteering in a small coastal school. Most of our stories are of heartwarming encounters and amazing adventures.

A sobering note, though, is that the slave trade is an important part of history here. The coast is cluttered with castles once used to hold, sell and load slaves. We toured one near Cape Coast. Church services were held on the second floor immediately above a women’s dungeon. It was sickening to realize that women lay on bare stone, with their own waste and blood on the floor, as just above, people sang and read the Bible. We stood long, and painfully reflected at the “Door of No Return” that led out to boats.

We toured as almost the only whites surrounded by descendants of those whose families were torn apart by the trade. Yet we were treated as honored guests by those who only believe the practice has been a scourge on all people. The suffering must be studied and remembered with bitter tears, so that slavery, and the racism and economic exploitation that allowed it to flourish must never, ever again be tolerated. Humanity has too many more beautiful things to share.

We walk comfortably in town every day as the only whites among hundreds of blacks, and many times a day we hear, “yevu,” or “white person!” followed inevitably by happy laughter and a warm “You are welcome here.” We Americans have much to learn.

MIKE and BETSY BULLARD

Coeur d’Alene