Farewell to Africa

Last days in Africa and I'm preparing to go back to Europe. The first thing I want when I arrive is for someone to hand me a big bottle of good, red wine, a hunk of French cheese and some saucisson. All things I desperately miss - having been away from them for so long.

I'm ready to go. It's been a long, sweaty, sometimes frustrating, sometimes ugly, always interesting trip and I need a good, long nap. The voodoo documentary didn't go as planned, the priests and practitioners here being too secretive and all too wary of outsiders. That's most of the power of the voodoo religion here - it's secretiveness and the VIP status the practitioner feels when they are allowed to be part of the group. Unfortunately for the voodoo crowd, the Christian and Muslim contingent don't really care who joins their clubs and are more interested in quantity than quality - actively recruiting members left and right. The effect is that less and less people practice the animist/voodoo religion and new membership appears to be declining. At the 2 ceremonies I was able to attend, the average age of the practitioners was about 30 years old with only a few young children around. There were no teenagers involved in either of the 2 ceremonies which is odd for a country where young people make up a majority of the population. Instead of voodoo (or voodoo-porn which was our unofficial second choice and the source of many jokes which eased the frustration of dealing with the guarded world of Togolese voodoo), we found a new topic.

A house in Agbodrafo, built in the early 1800s, which may or may not have been built and used for the purpose of black market slave trade. The interesting story isn’t about the house itself, although it is interesting. The interesting part of the story is the different versions of history and the politics behind this house. Of the descendents, one side is contesting that the house was built to hold slaves, the Togolese government is on their side. The government of Togo is currently proposing the site to UNESCO to be considered as a World Heritage Site (despite the fact that there is insufficient evidence to support this). A UNESCO designation would bring the tourists who currently skip Togo on their way from Benin to Ghana in search of family history or information about the slave trade. The other half of the family is furious that their family name might be associated with the illegal slave trade. This side of the family are prominent politicians and businessmen, direct descendents of the European man, named ‘Wood’, who built the house. We discovered other descendants and other claimed descendants who were also for or against the idea of claiming the house as a slave house. Every faction has their reasons and every faction has personal or political motives as well. It's a soap opera of historical proportions. Granted, it's not as "flash" or as "sexy" as voodoo (or voodoo-porn), but it's an interesting topic and should hopefully end up being an interesting finished documentary.

The Harmattan wind is blowing in from the Sahara and while the locals wear jackets and shiver, I find the temperature quite comfortable and enjoy the unusual experience of not sweating as I prepare myself for the 18+ hour bus ride between here and Ouagadougou.
Wish me luck