Slavery Reconciliation Walk

The Nation Newspaper | WALK WITH A MISSION: "WHITE PEOPLE, bound in yokes and chains, will take part in various walks across the Caribbean as a symbolic sign of penitence for their forefathers' involvement in slavery.

This is according to a Press release issued yesterday by Carol Aird, of the St Philip-based Youth With a Mission (YWAM).

Beginning in Barbados on Wednesday, October 26, and going as far afield as Colombia, the walks are expected to continue until November 5.

The release stated that though participants would be in chains, they were not meant to represent slaves.

Their bondage was only a symbol of acknowledgement of the sins committed by their ancestors during slavery, it added. Also expected to partake are Africans and Africans from the Diaspora.

Their involvement represents an apology for those Africans who took part in the slave trade.

This is the first time such walks will be held in the Caribbean, but they have been happening around the world for some time, according to the release.

Started in England in 2000, the walks are called reconciliation journeys. The organisers of these 'journeys' say they are a Christian response to the legacy of slavery.

David Pott, director of Lifeline Expedition, the organisation in charge of co-ordinating the walks, was quoted in the release as saying the Caribbean was a most important region in terms of slavery.

'Here unspeakable horrors were inflicted upon millions forcibly transported from Africa to enrich Europeans with forced labour,' he said.

For the Barbados walk, Lifeline Expedition will be working with YWAM.

Aird said YWAM's involvement was in keeping with participation in other such events.

'We have worked with reconciliation projects previously,' she told the DAILY NATION in a telephone interview yesterday. 'When we heard about the walks, we decided to do it.'

Aird said she expected more than 20 'walkers' primarily from England
to take part. She added that while she could not give a definite route at the moment, the walk would be along 'places of significance with slavery'.

Saying that she had only now been publicly speaking of the proposed walk, Aird admitted encountering mixed responses.

'I have been getting different reactions from people as I tell them about it,' she said.

Originally hesitant to become involved with the project, Aird later decided she had to get on board. 'I mean it's still kind of mixed (emotionally) but it is something I felt
I had to do.'"

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