YALI RLC: My Experience (Day 14)

The 7th day of October, 14th of the training was, to a great extent, fun! The day started out, at about 5, with some of us observing some less vigorous calisthenics; most of us did this in our rooms again. At 7, breakfast was served. Then everyone was gearing up for the tour.

At about 10:20, after loads of pictures were taken with everyone (except one) well 'YALI-kitted', we set out on the a-little adventurous trip. I observed pedestrians' eyes were well fed with our convoy - they would want to have the same experience. After passing through the market, we got to the 'slave place'. The theme of the place is slavery. All thanks to the tour guide who gave vivid explanation of how the 'oyinbos' - the whites - tortured the African people who lived in those days of slavery. The guy elucidated so ingeniously that you would think he really was there when this act of slavery was rampant, to the extent that you would be very exasperated at the whites' acts. But then, I thought within me, "I don't think any of my ancestors was enslaved, at least the ones on my genealogy" - so I think it is to you, too. Why? Most, if not all, of those enslaved never returned, since all of them crossed 'the point of no return'.

It was getting funner when we took a ferry (some took a speed-boat-like boat) to cross the Badagry river to tread the path that leads to the ocean where a 'slave-ship' used to wait for the slaves who were always well chained, and be shipped to either US or Europe, depending on who is buying the slaves. We had fun at the beach, which was kinda full of crabs, that we almost forgot that those slaves never had any fun, especially after they must have taken from the well of attenuation. It was another thing entirely for them. I thank God I didn't exist then - then, was hell, as in hell on earth. We left the beach for the first storey building in Nigeria. Almost everything about the place was 'first' - the first teacher, the first well, the first this, the first that; all thanks to the tour guide who explained a lot of things. What intrigued me, among many other things in this first storey building, was Ajayi Crowther's room: this room, which is small, was where he translated the Holy Bible to Yoruba language. (He didn't need a big room to turn a lot of things around.) We were shown the 'first well' (now named 'Miracle Well') which was dug in 1842.

We finally left that part of Badagry to ASCON part at about 2pm, when almost everyone was hungry. We had lunch, which was already waiting for us to devour. We rested afterwards. Then, at about 6pm, dinner got served.

Day 14 ended just like that!

I actually have a riddle here: we were told, and we indeed saw, that the first well was dug beside the first storey building in Nigeria in 1842 when slave trading was already being suppressed. However, the attenuation well was where the slaves were forced to take and drink 'concorted' water from, so that their memories will go auto-delete. Now, which do you think would actually be the first well? Or, was the attenuation well not dug on Nigerian soil? Could it be that, we went to another 'country' when we crossed the Badagry river? I don't know!

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