Return to Letters from the PilgrimsReturn to The Pilgrimage
Dear Friends,
March has seemed a month of scarcity in terms of news from the Pilgrims. This is true. We have not heard so much from them. This is the first month that they have been on the open road in Africa, staying in a new place every night. We learned that as a security precaution, the Ghanaian government would not allow them to walk on the major highways, but have allowed them to walk in the villages. Having no words of descriptive narrative from the pilgrims themselves, we can only think that their days are more full than we can imagine.
On February 25, 1999 we received an update from the Advance Team in Abidjan. In early March there was much excitement as we learned from Smitty and Regina that they were able to get passage on the Sortilege, a sailing ship that would take them from Salvador, Brazil to Tema, Ghana. The huge excitement for Smitty and Regina distracted us somewhat from realizing that we were not hearing so much from our dear Pilgrims on the great continent of Africa.
We knew the advance group went to Abidjan, that the main group was following on train through Mali to Bamako, Mali; that they would take a bus to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; and that in Abidjan they would most likely start walking to Ghana. We also knew that in Abidjan it would be very important for the Advance Team to secure visas for everyone. We learned that serendipitously, there was conference of the African Ministers of Culture in Abidjan. It seemed a gift to have all those Ministers of Culture right there in Abidjan so that the Pilgrimage could discuss getting visas in their countries with them.
On March 2nd we received a plethora of e-mail notes from those organizing to alert us that everyone now had "hotmail accounts" - including Sr. Clare who wrote "Greetings from Cyberspace Clare" ! One small sentence read from Leora read: "We begin walking in Abidjan on Thursday, by Friday we are heading into open road toward the Ghanaian border. …Ingrid and Akiba are leaving for Accra eitiher Thurs. or Friday depending on the visa situation. They will be staying with Mrs. Verda Tarpeh, mother of my friend Dwede."
Here at the home-base we were floundering somewhat. There was no day-by-day schedule or town-by-town itinerary to go by - only the haunting sentence "…by Friday we are heading into open road toward the Ghanaian border." We had no images of what being on the open road was like: Were there support vehicles? Were folks walking? Were they carrying their packs? Where were they staying? Who was hosting? The Ghana Council of Churches - but what shape did that take?
The email that came in were e-mails of request. We answered numerous requests that had to be researched and resourced with considerable follow up. Then e-mails and faxes would come in from pilgrims that made little reference to anything we had sent over. It was confusing and disconcerting for us here at the home base and also so for those on the Pilgrimage journey. Why wasn't home base responding to their requests?
We began to hear from the organizers. We learned about their arduous work in getting visas for Smitty and Regina (necessary so the ship's captain wouldn't be fined the cost of his ship for bringing individuals with no visas onto the shores.) We learned about organizing challenges and logistics for Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. Beginning plans for South Africa were touched on. But there was no narrative coming from "walking pilgrims" that would help us envision what was happening day-by-day, step-by-step. We did understand that they were walking in remote areas and that phone access and e-mail access were most probably impossible. And a friend called to confirm that Ghana itself was notorious for lack of phones and e-mail access. Nevertheless, time was going by, folks were calling in, wanting to know what was happening and we could only speculate. How spoiled we have been until this month!
Around March 26th we learned of a rest and retreat at Cape Coast that had more descriptive passages, which will be shared in a subsequent mailing. Now, March 30th, I can say we have finally been able to get connected with Ingrid in Accra. There was admittedly, quite a tanglement of e-mails, more than we had realized. Many that were sent were never received which accounts for some of the confusion. Promises have been made that when the Pilgrims arrive in Accra, we will get some UPDATES and that will be a joy.
Basically, folks are well, surviving bouts with dysentary and fever. They have been warmly welcomed and generously hosted. They are walking and do the work of Spirit: walking along the Coast of West Africa, vigiling and praying at the hundreds of sites where millions of enslaved Africans suffered at the hands of their White European captors. It is heavy work and I can only believe that it is psychically exhausting beyond measure.
I will end this brief overview and begin the process of patching together bits and pieces of the chronology of the Pilgrimage in Ghana to share with all very soon.
I refer everyone to www.highseas.org to learn more about the Sortilege and that Middle Passage crossing. Also, the website >www.peacepagoda.org< continues to carry more updates and photos.
Stay tuned! Many blessings to all at this blessed time of renewal and rebirth!
elaine
Return to Letters from the Pilgrims
Return to The Pilgrimage