Slavery, guilt & sunburn

The door of no return in the Slave Master's House

I've just returned from Senegal where I visited Goré Island - the place where slaves from West Africa were held before being shipped to the Americas.  On the island there is a museum in the slave masters house. This was where the slave families were separated (men, women, children) and their strength assessed. There was even a room where the weaker slaves were fattened up to be strong enough to survive the journey. It was, of course, a deeply unsettling and upsetting place to be.

It brought back the deep seated guilt I feel from being English, a colonial power, and being part of a society that has benefitted so hugely from the slave trade.  

However, a small part of me was also proud of my long association with Anti-Slavery International. The original human rights agency, which 200 years ago, campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade. I was working for Anti-Slavery in Senegal (training local NGOs on children's participation), Jonathan and I met at a job interview at Anti-Slavery (Jonathan worked there for 15 years - I didn't get the job but I figure I got the better deal!) and eventually I worked in the offices of Anti-Slavery for eight years (for another organisation).

Slavery is such an emotive word - most of us officially working on the issue don't like to use it - and we tend to mistrust people who do use it. Let me explain why. In Togo last year I worked with a child domestic worker whom I will call 'Amina'. Anima had been sent to work in the capital by her mother (trafficked - another emotive word) she’s under the control of her employer which means the only time she’s allowed out is to go with her employer to church and she had only recently been reunited with her mother after 10 years; her employer beats her when she breaks things or gets tasks wrong. In short, she is living in modern day slavery. But there are thousands of children in the same position as her and the only way the local NGO can get access to her is to negotiate with her employer. They cannot do this by saying they are working on the issue of slavery as this implies that Amina's employer is a slave master or mistress.  And actually Amina's employer is a good employer - she has allowed Amina to have time off to attend meetings and trainings and counselling from the local NGO (called WAO Afrique).  All the local NGOs Children Unite is working with recognise this tension – that in order to help child domestic workers, you cannot afford to see their employers as the enemy (the slave mistress), you have to work with them and gradually change their mindset about their employment of their ‘domestic’.  Slavery is not just an emotive word, it is a complex concept – on the one hand there is the historical baggage of the transatlantic slave trade, on the other is the modern day complexities which, on the issue of child domestic labour, are deeply rooted in cultural practice.

Sitting on Goré Island (which is actually rather pretty) I was struck by the mix of emotions, the baggage and the complexities of the concept of slavery….I sat there so long, staring out to sea that I got sunburnt!