The Door of No Return

Oh right! I said I'd do this every week!

Almost forgot.

Ok. I'm jumping right into some pretty heavy stuff. When I first scrolled through some pictures of Benin, this rather ominous and bleak gate stood out to me.

This is "La Porte du Non Retour" (the Door of No Return) in Ouidah, on the coast of Benin. It is one of 4 such gates on the West African coast which mark the departure point of the millions of Africans who were forcibly taken from their homes, families, and their continent, and exploited as a commodity.

The mantle of the gate portrays bound captives leaving the shore of their homeland behind them, and marching towards the ship that will take them thousands of miles away into a life of servitude.

The other 3 "Doors of No Return" are in the other major centres of the slave trade in Ghana, Senegal, and Gambia. These are still within the original fortresses built as holding centres and trading ports.

The Bight of Benin, which includes the coastlines of Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, accounted for 20% of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade; over 2 million people sold into slavery over 250 years. The Kingdom of Dahomey, the predecessor to present day Benin, was involved in numerous conflicts between neighbouring kingdoms and empires. Dahomey forces conducted countless raids against these different ethnic groups, abducting and selling millions of individuals to European slave traders.

I think the most shocking picture I found while researching this post is this diagram illustrating the design of a slave ship so as to pack as many bodies in as possible. The conditions during the 1-6 month long Atlantic crossing would have been unimaginably horrific.

It's no wonder that an estimated 2.2 million Africans died at sea before ever reaching the Americas.

Also along the route to reach the waiting slave ships was a tree called "The Tree of Forgetfulness," which has ironically since fallen. A marker now stands at the spot where slaves were forced to circle the tree multiple times in a ceremonial ritual meant to erase their minds of their identity and memories of their heritage.

Memorial where the tree once stood

Once again, I've barely scratched the surface on this topic. If you are interested in a more in-depth look at this very dark part of the world's history, here is an excellent video:

On a lighter note, I am going ahead with travel plans, getting my flights booked with the help of Menno Travel (yes, a Mennonite travel agency-they're awesome), and have an appointment next week to make sure my vaccinations are up to date. I was able to cross one thing off my to-do list as well; I registered my travel plans with the federal government. Yay!

T Minus 35 Weeks and Counting...

As you can probably tell from the shiny new banner up there, I'm going back to work with Mercy Ships!

The Africa Mercy (AFM) recently finished its 2nd consecutive field service in Madagascar, returning to dry dock in South Africa for a couple months of R&R. After it's all shined up and ready for action again, it will be travelling up the west coast of Africa, to the small, West African nation of Benin, for another 10 month field service. The ship had been slated to visit Benin back in 2014, but the Ebola outbreak very close by led to the difficult but necessary decision to go elsewhere. The AFM is really not equipped to deal with highly infectious diseases, beyond the occasional case of chicken pox or flu. While there were never any cases of the virus in Benin itself, the rate at which it was spreading in neighbouring countries, plus the sheer number of cases (which had never been seen before), meant the risk was just too great. There are many other incredible organizations who stepped up to help during this crisis, ones who are much better equipped for and trained in dealing with infectious outbreaks. The surgical interventions Mercy Ships specializes in just aren't much help in that situation.

So, despite having already made some preparations in Benin, the ship was routed to Madagascar, on the other side of the continent, where it stayed for the next 2 years.

The WHO announced on March 29, 2016 that the "Public Health Emergency of International Concern" was ended, as the outbreak has been nearly entirely eradicated. Only two or three new cases have appeared in the last 3 months. Although the cost was tremendous, the death toll rising to 5 digits, the sheer amount of new data and resources the outbreak afforded has finally led to a vaccine being produced and trialled, which will hopefully prevent anything like this from happening again. Thousands of incredibly dedicated healthcare workers risked their safety to fight this horrific virus. 

Over 500 lost their lives. 

Thanks to this profound sacrifice, the region is now quite safe again, and Mercy Ships can continue their work of transforming lives; freeing them from debilitating, painful, and degrading afflictions. 

I am excited and honored once again to have the opportunity to be a part of this amazing service! I will be joining the AFM for 3 months in Cotonou, Benin at the end of February, 2017. And I CAN'T WAIT! 

I am so grateful for all the support and encouragement I received last year during my time on the ship, and I'm looking forward to yet another incredible journey with all of you. 

Last time around, I spent the last month before my departure trying to do 1 blog post a day about Madagascar. And, well, if you were reading, you saw how well that turned out. *cough* 3-posts-in-1-day-to-catch-up *cough* So this time I've decided to space things out a wee bit more, and do 1 post a week for 35 weeks. I will try again to provide some interesting tidbits about the country of Benin, as well as updates about my preparations and planning. 

So, to wrap things up for update #1:

• I've received my official acceptance letter, digitally signed a pile of conduct & confidentiality forms, and am working on a few more. 
• I'm saving up for the biggest initial expense: the plane tickets (hmm...layover in Turkey or Morocco?). 
• I'm adding 100 things to my to-do list.

And for anyone that wants to skip 34 more blog posts but still learn a bunch of interesting stuff about Benin, here's a video: