"Gate of No Return..."

It has been a busy week. I had my first end of the month reports to work on, the first time through is always slow. But it is coming along fine. After a slow down to allow some medical personnel to take a little vacation, the surgery pace is now up to full speed with all six operating rooms going every day. Two of the ORs are dedicated to eye surgery, they can do 30-40 cataract surgeries a day in those two ORs. That is just to show how busy we are on a daily basis.

Today is Saturday, and we took the day off. We (the family and friends (Gates family) about 17 in two vehicles) went to a little town called Ouidah (we-duh). This little area has a lot of historical significance. This was the area where a large part of the slave trade took place. The first picture is a monument that was erected called the "Gate of No Return". Just on the other side is the ocean, the slaves would be brought here and loaded on board the slave ships, never to return to their homeland. What I found ironic was just down the beach about a hundred yards was another monument that honored the first missionaries to arrive in this area. The dichotomy of one monument showing the enslavement of people and the other showing the way to freedom in Christ juxtaposed they way there were truly evident.

After visiting the beach, we went into the little town of Ouidah itself. We got lost and went on streets (if you can call them that) that I'm sure a vehicle hasn't traveled on in years. Luckily we have good sturdy 4 wheel drive vehicles to use.

There we visited a re-creation of a Portuguese fort that was the headquarters for the slave traders. There was a museum that showed how the slaves were "processed" before they were loaded on board ships. It was heart breaking to see the equipment they used and the cruelty with which they killed those not strong enough for the buyers. It was truly a dark time of history, and to think that human slavery is still going on in many parts of the world today is mind numbing. The museum also had a part showing voodoo. This had as much effect on us as did the slavery part. Our guide told us that many people in Benin today may practice Christianity Sunday morning, but Sunday night they participate in voodoo rituals. This area is the birth place of voodoo and even on the trip out we passed a voodoo temple, it was quite large.

As we were driving out to Ouidah, we noticed along the beach that there would be 15-20 men, women, and children pulling with all their might on large ropes that led into the sea. We know that they were probably pulling in fishing nets, we didn't realize the size of those nets until we drove past a group of men carring one net. That is picture 3. The last picture is of a shanty (for lack of better word) This one was a little of the road, but all along the road there were these types of dwelling, people still live in them. They are made out of palm frons. The children were playing out side them laughing, and the adults were sitting there cooking, visiting, doing things just like people do around the world. Most of the huts were sea-side houses, I know people who would pay a mint to have the property location they have.

After a day of bumpy roads, enjoying a scenic drive and struggling with emotions, we stopped at a beach resort, had a soda and sat by the pool enjoying the sun. It was a full day, that we thoroughly enjoyed. Tomorrow we look forward to going back to the church we worshipped at last week (see last weeks blog).