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Dear ones,
Greetings from Goree. We arrived yesterday by ferry to Goree the most famous place of the slave trade. It is from this island that many captives passed through the "Door of no return". Tomorrow we will conduct a ceremony in that very slave Castle.
Being on the Island, seeing these buildings reminds me of pictures I've seen of quaint European villages. The buildings are close and have dreamy, typically Caribbean colors, shrimp tones, and yellows on the outsides. Many homes have inner courtyards.
The clothing in West Africa is a feast for the eyes. Good thing for me.
People in Africa continuously refer to those of us who are African decended as having come home. "where are you from", they say .... "you are from Africa even if you now live in another place" is also the response they give to us.
There is a lot of begging here. I gave two children some souviner coins the other day in Albreda, The Gambia when we stayed at the village of Kunta Kinte. Suddenly I was mobbed by at least thirty children. The intensity and desperation in their faces and body language frightened me. Later, I spoke with a few other Pilgrims about this as one of the legacies of slavery and the devistated conditions on the continent since that time.
There is sooooo much to be done here. This same village has a clinic but the doctor only comes one day per month. School classrooms have as many and 100 students per teacher. Parents must pay for their children to go to school.
Our diet consists mainly of bread, rice and fish. Sometimes we get to eat three times a day sometimes only twice; bread, coffee or tea in the morning, and a rice and fish dish in the evening.
We will be here until Friday this week. Then on to Abidjan, Ivory Coast for our walk to Lagos, Nigeria.
Those who are planning to send Western Union please send before Friday Feb. 19 if you can. Thank you so very much.
Must be off.
KA
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