As an African American growing up in the southern city of Nashville I always dreamed of going to an island, seeing the waves of the ocean crash on the beachfront, and watch the sunset. So when I made my first trip to Jamaica one of my dreams came true. I took in the Caribbean skyline drinking coconut juice. Then I realized there was another dream unfulfilled and that was venturing to the vast homeland Mother Africa.
I have been to Africa a few times since that vision first appeared, and each time I think about what a beautiful, diverse, and historical continent it is. Each visit to Africa whether it is Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana or Senegal I continue to get a crash course in cultural filmmaking. I record the smiles of school children as they approach me even when I try to blend in and be unnoticeable. The landscape of the mountains and the oceon are hypnotizing, it consistently gives me a strong emotional feeling of what we are missing in the Americas.
When it came time to write another article for Unchain Africa Press I felt that this time I would talk about my personal experience visiting both Goree Island in Senegal and Robben Island in South Africa. Both islands are symbols of strength, freedom, bondage, and the power to overcome obstacles. Each time I visit Dakar which has unfortunately been only twice, I asked to see Goree Island so that I could visit the place where my ancestors were shipped away from, and sent to the West for a lifetime of forced servitude. Today, I have a friend on Goree who has maintained contact with me over the past four years. We have corresponded via text, email, letters and phone calls. Just in case you have never been to Goree Island, it is located 2 kilometers or 1.5 miles off the coast of Dakar with an estimated 1,056 inhabitants on 45 acres.
The island from my recollection does not even have one traffic light, and many of the people know each other as family or lifetime friends. My good friend and tour guide who lives on Goree is named Ahmandou and he is the best person to give you the history about every building, monument, and historical timeline from the first Portuguese explorers building a chapel in 1450 to the House of Slaves built by a French family in 1780. I silently gaze beyond the shore of the Atlantic Ocean as the “door of no return” as it became my focal point. It was significant and sad to see how far we as Africans of the Diaspora have gone away from our homeland hundreds of years later. Today Ahmandou still sends me text messages, and even sent a congratulatory message after President Barack Obama’s victory after the election saying, “the whole of Africa is proud and may God bless him and his family”. Immediately upon return from Senegal, I found a great organization, Senecorps which does incredible work in Senegal. I encourage anyone to support their educational causes.
Just as I felt a sense of connection to my past on Goree, I found a sense of the present when I visited Robben Island located seven kilometers from the beautiful city of Capetown.
We first took a ferry from the strangely named Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, and just as we were riding off the coast of Capetown to Robben Island, I wondered what it was like for others who were leaving and returning under very different circumstances. The tour was led by a former prisoner who gave us detailed stories of what life was like on the former leper colony named by the Dutch as the “seal island”. He told us how prison guards would not allow them to write or read letters without first being edited by Afrikaans officials. The mistreatment they received was unbearable and Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for over 27 years under Apartheid rulers and laws. The island became an intellectual training camp for the prisoners of whom many were falsely accused for their involvement in the liberation struggle and often blacklisted officials of the ANC (African National Congress) party fighting for equality and freedom in their own homeland. I found it interesting to learn that Robben Island became a university for some of the future leaders who eventually became advisors, presidents and ambassadors in the new South Africa of today.
Robben Island represents perseverance, discipline and the will to focus on long term goals than dwell on the past. As we walked up to the prison cell where Nelson Mandela, affectionately known by his people as Madiba, was held I saw the little window he looked out of and thought about what he was thinking while being held for over a decade. He must have definitely looked out of that window missing his family, friends and country. He must have also spent that time reflecting on how he planned to internally break the chains of Africa one link at a time. Mandela saw a vision that someday all South Africans could live together without legal racial segregation or apartheid, and provide a future for young generations to become innovators and contributors rather than disenfranchised citizens.
Both of these islands have made a huge impression upon my life, and someday I hope to take my children to visit them and spend time dreaming together. After visiting both islands, I later learned that they are listed as UN World Heritage Sites to be preserved as culturally and physically significant locations in the world. They deserve it, and need the upkeep and support especially in the case of Goree. I hope to you will share any stories you have about visiting any of these islands as well.
If you are interested in visiting Goree Island or Robben Island here are some resources:
Virtual Visit to Goree
Robben Island Museum
If you are interested in visiting Goree Island or Robben Island here are some resources: an African American growing up in the southern city of Nashville I always dreamed of going to an island, seeing the waves of the ocean crash on the beachfront, and watch the sunset. So when I made my first trip to Jamaica one of my dreams came true. I took in the Caribbean skyline drinking coconut juice. Then I realized there was another dream unfulfilled and that was venturing to the vast homeland Mother Africa.
I have been to Africa a few times since that vision first appeared, and each time I think about what a beautiful, diverse, and historical continent it is. Each visit to Africa whether it is Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana or Senegal I continue to get a crash course in cultural filmmaking. I record the smiles of school children as they approach me even when I try to blend in and be unnoticeable. The landscape of the mountains and the oceon are hypnotizing, it consistently gives me a strong emotional feeling of what we are missing in the Americas.
When it came time to write another article for Unchain Africa Press I felt that this time I would talk about my personal experience visiting both Goree Island in Senegal and Robben Island in South Africa. Both islands are symbols of strength, freedom, bondage, and the power to overcome obstacles. Each time I visit Dakar which has unfortunately been only twice, I asked to see Goree Island so that I could visit the place where my ancestors were shipped away from, and sent to the West for a lifetime of forced servitude. Today, I have a friend on Goree who has maintained contact with me over the past four years. We have corresponded via text, email, letters and phone calls. Just in case you have never been to Goree Island, it is located 2 kilometers or 1.5 miles off the coast of Dakar with an estimated 1,056 inhabitants on 45 acres.
The island from my recollection does not even have one traffic light, and many of the people know each other as family or lifetime friends. My good friend and tour guide who lives on Goree is named Ahmandou and he is the best person to give you the history about every building, monument, and historical timeline from the first Portuguese explorers building a chapel in 1450 to the House of Slaves built by a French family in 1780. I silently gaze beyond the shore of the Atlantic Ocean as the “door of no return” as it became my focal point. It was significant and sad to see how far we as Africans of the Diaspora have gone away from our homeland hundreds of years later. Today Ahmandou still sends me text messages, and even sent a congratulatory message after President Barack Obama’s victory after the election saying, “the whole of Africa is proud and may God bless him and his family”. Immediately upon return from Senegal, I found a great organization, Senecorps which does incredible work in Senegal. I encourage anyone to support their educational causes.
Just as I felt a sense of connection to my past on Goree, I found a sense of the present when I visited Robben Island located seven kilometers from the beautiful city of Capetown.
We first took a ferry from the strangely named Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, and just as we were riding off the coast of Capetown to Robben Island, I wondered what it was like for others who were leaving and returning under very different circumstances. The tour was led by a former prisoner who gave us detailed stories of what life was like on the former leper colony named by the Dutch as the “seal island”. He told us how prison guards would not allow them to write or read letters without first being edited by Afrikaans officials. The mistreatment they received was unbearable and Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for over 27 years under Apartheid rulers and laws. The island became an intellectual training camp for the prisoners of whom many were falsely accused for their involvement in the liberation struggle and often blacklisted officials of the ANC (African National Congress) party fighting for equality and freedom in their own homeland. I found it interesting to learn that Robben Island became a university for some of the future leaders who eventually became advisors, presidents and ambassadors in the new South Africa of today.
Robben Island represents perseverance, discipline and the will to focus on long term goals than dwell on the past. As we walked up to the prison cell where Nelson Mandela, affectionately known by his people as Madiba, was held I saw the little window he looked out of and thought about what he was thinking while being held for over a decade. He must have definitely looked out of that window missing his family, friends and country. He must have also spent that time reflecting on how he planned to internally break the chains of Africa one link at a time. Mandela saw a vision that someday all South Africans could live together without legal racial segregation or apartheid, and provide a future for young generations to become innovators and contributors rather than disenfranchised citizens.
Both of these islands have made a huge impression upon my life, and someday I hope to take my children to visit them and spend time dreaming together. After visiting both islands, I later learned that they are listed as UN World Heritage Sites to be preserved as culturally and physically significant locations in the world. They deserve it, and need the upkeep and support especially in the case of Goree. I hope to you will share any stories you have about visiting any of these islands as well.
If you are interested in visiting Goree Island or Robben Island here are some resources:As an African American growing up in the southern city of Nashville I always dreamed of going to an island, seeing the waves of the ocean crash on the beachfront, and watch the sunset. So when I made my first trip to Jamaica one of my dreams came true. I took in the Caribbean skyline drinking coconut juice. Then I realized there was another dream unfulfilled and that was venturing to the vast homeland Mother Africa.
I have been to Africa a few times since that vision first appeared, and each time I think about what a beautiful, diverse, and historical continent it is. Each visit to Africa whether it is Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana or Senegal I continue to get a crash course in cultural filmmaking. I record the smiles of school children as they approach me even when I try to blend in and be unnoticeable. The landscape of the mountains and the oceon are hypnotizing, it consistently gives me a strong emotional feeling of what we are missing in the Americas.
When it came time to write another article for Unchain Africa Press I felt that this time I would talk about my personal experience visiting both Goree Island in Senegal and Robben Island in South Africa. Both islands are symbols of strength, freedom, bondage, and the power to overcome obstacles. Each time I visit Dakar which has unfortunately been only twice, I asked to see Goree Island so that I could visit the place where my ancestors were shipped away from, and sent to the West for a lifetime of forced servitude. Today, I have a friend on Goree who has maintained contact with me over the past four years. We have corresponded via text, email, letters and phone calls. Just in case you have never been to Goree Island, it is located 2 kilometers or 1.5 miles off the coast of Dakar with an estimated 1,056 inhabitants on 45 acres.
The island from my recollection does not even have one traffic light, and many of the people know each other as family or lifetime friends. My good friend and tour guide who lives on Goree is named Ahmandou and he is the best person to give you the history about every building, monument, and historical timeline from the first Portuguese explorers building a chapel in 1450 to the House of Slaves built by a French family in 1780. I silently gaze beyond the shore of the Atlantic Ocean as the “door of no return” as it became my focal point. It was significant and sad to see how far we as Africans of the Diaspora have gone away from our homeland hundreds of years later. Today Ahmandou still sends me text messages, and even sent a congratulatory message after President Barack Obama’s victory after the election saying, “the whole of Africa is proud and may God bless him and his family”. Immediately upon return from Senegal, I found a great organization, Senecorps which does incredible work in Senegal. I encourage anyone to support their educational causes.
Just as I felt a sense of connection to my past on Goree, I found a sense of the present when I visited Robben Island located seven kilometers from the beautiful city of Capetown.
We first took a ferry from the strangely named Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, and just as we were riding off the coast of Capetown to Robben Island, I wondered what it was like for others who were leaving and returning under very different circumstances. The tour was led by a former prisoner who gave us detailed stories of what life was like on the former leper colony named by the Dutch as the “seal island”. He told us how prison guards would not allow them to write or read letters without first being edited by Afrikaans officials. The mistreatment they received was unbearable and Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for over 27 years under Apartheid rulers and laws. The island became an intellectual training camp for the prisoners of whom many were falsely accused for their involvement in the liberation struggle and often blacklisted officials of the ANC (African National Congress) party fighting for equality and freedom in their own homeland. I found it interesting to learn that Robben Island became a university for some of the future leaders who eventually became advisors, presidents and ambassadors in the new South Africa of today.
Robben Island represents perseverance, discipline and the will to focus on long term goals than dwell on the past. As we walked up to the prison cell where Nelson Mandela, affectionately known by his people as Madiba, was held I saw the little window he looked out of and thought about what he was thinking while being held for over a decade. He must have definitely looked out of that window missing his family, friends and country. He must have also spent that time reflecting on how he planned to internally break the chains of Africa one link at a time. Mandela saw a vision that someday all South Africans could live together without legal racial segregation or apartheid, and provide a future for young generations to become innovators and contributors rather than disenfranchised citizens.
Both of these islands have made a huge impression upon my life, and someday I hope to take my children to visit them and spend time dreaming together. After visiting both islands, I later learned that they are listed as UN World Heritage Sites to be preserved as culturally and physically significant locations in the world. They deserve it, and need the upkeep and support especially in the case of Goree. I hope to you will share any stories you have about visiting any of these islands as well.
If you are interested in visiting Goree Island or Robben Island here are some resources:
