Martin Parnell

My travelling companions and I had been in Benin for three days and the reception we had received from the Right To Play staff, teachers and children had been tremendous.

I’m in the West African country with Robert Witchel, the Canadian director for Right to Play, Canadian women’s hockey player Caroline Ouellette and Canadian bobsleigh athlete Heather Moyse.

On the fourth day of our trip we were going to learn about a small part of Benin’s history and it was to have a profound impact on me.

First, we travelled to Quidah, 40 kilometres west of Cotonou and visited Adjara-Dovie Elementary School.

We observed a lesson on child protection strategies.

The children were in Grade 5 and were hard workers.

The lesson was an hour long and they stayed on task the whole time. Robert, on the other hand, was sitting in a corner and starting to nod off.

Our next stop was the Quidah museum and the story of the slave trade. In the 1700s, Kings ruled the country and they sold their people as slaves.

A clay pipe was worth 20 slaves and a bottle of gin was worth 50.

Photo courtesy Martin Parnell

The slaves were then kept for two months, at a location that is now a museum.

Many slaves died and the rest walked the five-kilometre trek along the slave’s road to the coast. We drove that road and along the way we were shown the slaves graveyard, where millions are buried.

At the end of the road we reached the Port of No Return.

Slaves would walk under an arch, knowing they would never see their homeland again.

These slaves were sent all over the world and half of them would die before they ever saw dry land.

When slavery was abolished a number of them returned to Africa to form the nation of Liberia.

Standing on the beach looking out to sea one can only think “But for the grace of God . . . ”

That evening we headed over to Benin TV for a one hour program on the importance of sport in children’s development.

The show is broadcast across the country.

The main speakers were Caroline and Heather with Marie from Right To Play and a government representative.

Photo courtesy Martin Parnell

Robert and I sat in the back row with two members of the Benin women’s soccer team we had met the previous day.

I really couldn’t understand a lot that was said, but it was obvious the discussion was somewhat heated at times.

The presenter reminded me of a grumpy Tony Harris (if Tony ever got grumpy).

I found out afterwards he had been quite aggressive, asking why should girls do sport and if there was any benefit to them doing so — interesting.

It had been quite a day and there was a lot to reflect on.

I will never forget the morning at Quidah museum and the slave road.

In my final article on my trip to Benin I will talk about visiting the Vedoko school for the deaf and setting up a kids running club.

© 2011 Martin Parnell

mjparnell@shaw.ca

www.marathonquest250.com

No related stories.

• Filed under Columns | You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.