Gorée Island
The Door of no Return
According to Tripadvisor the “Maison des Esclaves” on Gorée Island is the clear number 1 attraction in Senegal. The island of Gorée itself ranks as the number 2 attraction again according to Tripadvisor (somehow a contradiction since you cannot get to the Maison des Esclaves without going to the island – let’s leave this detail to the logic of our increasing digital business models!).
I visited Gorée one day prior to my return flight to Europe and indeed got yet another wake-up call (if one was needed after the experiences in St. Louis!).
It is believed that from the 15th until the 19th century the island was the largest slaves trading centre in Africa.
Over centuries the Portuguese, the British, the Dutch and the French fought and killed each-other to occupy the island (!).
This is ultimately a special reflection on all of us in Europe.
The official storyline is that millions of slaves passed through the “Door of no Return” on Gorée Island.
The door was the point out of which many, may be millions, of African slaves took the last step from Africa onto the slave ships that would bring them to the new world, if they even survived the journey. That's the official narrative. The truth may be different and more complicated.
This story is in the meantime disputed by historians. Whether Gorée Island was indeed the largest slave trading spot in Africa is probably questionable.
Historians seem to bridge the disconnect between reality and the myth with the confirmation
About the world’s struggle to deal with this darkest chapter in human history.
Undisputed is the fact that Gorée has become a place of reflection.
It’s a place that shuts you down. Point.
I quote Michel Rocard – former French prime minister –
It's not easy for a white man, in all honesty, to visit this Slave House without feeling ill at ease.
Over decades, the island has been visited by the “who is who” of our planet. Corona travel restrictions offered me the luxury to visit the island without the typical tourist crowds.
The quid pro quo was the fact that I had to face the brutal realities of the island without the protection of the crowds.
I watched the outstanding and moving musical documentary directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud – a Swiss director. This is the anonymous comment I found on the film:
Because jazz is the miraculous product of the horror of slavery, Youssou N'Dour returned to the slave route and the music they created, in search of new inspiration. Accompanied by the blind Swiss pianist Moncef Genoud and the Director of the Gorée House of Slaves Museum, Joseph N'Diaye, the Senegalese singer wrote new songs during this initiatory voyage which took him to the USA then to Europe. At Gorée his memorable concert marked the end of this quest and the start of a new challenge: making today's generation aware of the tragedy of slavery, the importance of not forgetting and the need for reconciliation.
I encourage the readers of my blog to watch this documentary!
I visited the island on a very humid and tropically hot afternoon early August. On the ship on the way back to Dakar I thought of today’s children-slaves I had met in St. Louis only a few days ago.
Smell, noise, and humidity in the port of Dakar added an additional colour to my “condition humaine”.
The sweat, the pictures and the feelings of what I saw remain deeply impregnated in my soul while I’m writing these sentences.
