Reminiscing in Dakar

Working in Mauritania often led to my staying in Dakar in my travels south. Dakar is the major hub and refueling airport for trans-Atlantic flights. From Dakar, I normally fly over the Gulf of Guinea into Johannesburg, South Africa. I grew up on Plantation Rose Hall in Guyana, within spitting distance of Plantation Blairmont and a stone’s throw from Plantation Albion. At Berbice High School, I was an A-student in history. Our class was the first to study West Indian history, our predecessors studied British history. My penchant for West Indian history often stretched my imagination when I’m in West Africa. Once on the flight over the Bight of Benin, I could swear I saw a flotilla of slave ships sailing westwards towards the New World. In retrospect, I can only assume it was a dream precipitated by the sumptuous meal provided by South African Airways! While in Dakar, I try to imagine what this once thriving slave trading post was like centuries ago. This essay was composed during my visit there in April 2010. Going to Goré Island and seeing so many African Americans exhibiting intense emboldened emotions at that dastardly trans-Atlantic slave trade, I’m able to empathise and comfort many of them because my ancestors went through the same ordeal when the African trade was abolished in 1838. A slave trade in the form of “Bound Coolie Indentureship” replaced the African slave trade. Like the African Americans, we were determined to succeed away from the sugar plantation. Today, I’m a mining engineer travelling the world. I've spent many lonely hours on my hotel balcony looking out over this magnificent scene and reminiscing about the brutal trans-Atlantic slave trade. Such scenes have inspired me to write, and publish about this wanton trafficking in human cargo. It was this trade which sowed the seed for my being born in Guyana, as my ancestors were taken to the New World to replace the freed African slaves, who were demanding higher wages after emancipation. The colonial powers found it prudent to import labour from India rather than paying the Africans a decent wage. This has led to acrimonious animosity between African and Indians to this date. I often wonder what the demography, and the economy of the New World would have been like without the African slave trade? Having taught West Indian history at Berbice High School in Guyana in 1972/73, I was determined to seek out my Indian roots. In that process, I met my Indian wife and we got married in 2004. I'm no closer in finding my Indian heritage though. For some unknown reason, the Indian Indentured Labourers obliterated all traces of their links with India. I was able to make greater progress tracing African links to Guyana.