"A Middle Passage of the Heart"-Interfaith Pilgrims in Africa

Finally reaching West Africa in February, the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage, which began its journey in Leverett, MA last May, continues its "living prayer" to heal the history of slavery and racism. Creating plans as they go, the Pilgrims hope to be in South Africa in early May, walking to Cape Town by June 16 (now a nationally-celebrated commemoration of the Soweto uprising). Communication is difficult, but occasional voices come to us on fax or email through Elaine Kinseth-Abel in Western Massachusetts.

Ingrid Askew to Rev. Phyllis Byrd (Kenya-based organizer for Africa),
Ghana, March 13, 1999

The Pilgrims are all well and are being guided through Ghana on foot by a group of young Ghanaian race walkers . . . headed up by Vincent Asumang an ace race walker who represented Ghana in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta only to be denied participation because he had not had international recognition. . . . This young man is quite impressive. He has mapped out the walking route and has assigned members of the Visco Walking Club of Ghana to be with the walkers throughout their trek in Ghana. He is also trying to find someone to accompany the Walk through Togo and Benin.

From Akiba (pilgrim) to Elaine
Ghana, April 3, 1999

Yes we have truly walked the Southern portion of Ghana. Each time we have gone to a village to stay, I have had to go first to meet with the host and sometimes the Chief to be welcomed because this is the Ghanaian way. . . . In one village we visited, Rene was given the title of Queen Mother and Tim was made an ambassador. . . . Ghana is the West African country where the most enslaved Africans were taken from. There are 43 slave castles or forts here. Many of them are gone but we have visited six or seven. As you can imagine, after a while it became so very hard to go to them and to be present, but at Elmina and Cape Coast we entered through the door of no return just as we did on Goree (Island, Senegal) and, each time we did, something shifted in me.

Dr. Peter Sutherland (LSU professor)
Louisiana, USA, March 19, 1999

(At Whydah in Benin) the Pilgrims must make contact with Daagbo Hounon. . . (who) for the last six years . . . has been publicly sending prayers to the African ancestors of the diaspora who were transported to the Americas from Whydah, calling on them to return in spirit-form to their home in Whydah-together with their living brothers. This is precisely what the pilgrimage is/has been doing, i.e. gathering up the spirits of the ancestors along their way and bringing them back to Africa. We must allow adequate time for Daagbo to receive them in Whydah as the physical manifestation to his transatlantic prayers.

Sister Clare Carter to Elaine
somewhere on the road in Ghana, early March, 1999,

The spirit of the Pilgrimage continues to deepen through the rocky, dusty, painful path of the past, step by step, paying homage, letting in the truth, opening the heart, allowing the anger, the shame, breathing the courage and praying the faith for the beautiful children of today, of tomorrow. This time a Middle Passage of the Heart, giving birth to a new world where no one is hunted, despised, written off, where profit is not king, and where we all begin to find again the way to cultivate our better selves.

Spliced together by Louise Dunlap, who hopes to greet the Pilgrims in South Africa in May. Others traveling from the Boston area to rejoin include Jacqueline Smith Crooks, Nazerene Bragg, John Clarke, and Skip Schiel. Funds are urgently needed to support the walking Pilgrimage in this region of slender resources. Checks payable to "Interfaith Pilgrimage" may be sent to Elaine Kinseth-Abel, 22 Grand Avenue, Millers Falls, MA 01359.

As we go to press, Elaine tells us the Pilgrims are concluding their visit in Benin with Daagbo Hounon. After visiting Nigeria, they plan to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 2 and to walk to Durban by June 2 which is South Africa's national election day. Closing ceremonies are now planned in Cape Town for June 12.