Slave Castles

(A fictional account of actual events)

When we went to bed that night I never dreamed how much life would change in the blink of an eye. The sun was just barely up when we heard the screams and yelling. Before we knew it our door was torn off and men with guns were dragging us out of bed. I had no idea what was going on. I screamed for my husband but he was being hit and kicked and dragged out of the hut. I was terrified. We were pulled into the middle of the village and stood there with every other man, woman and child in our village. There were so many men with guns, gesturing and yelling at us in a language I did not understand. Two men tried to wrestle with the invaders but they were quickly subdued and beaten. We were pushed into a line and prodded to walk by the butts of the guns and the harsh hands of our captors. It finally dawned on me that we had been attacked and captured by men from another tribe, but what they wanted or where we were going I did not know. What could they possibly want from us? We were a small and very poor village. We had nothing to offer and certainly had nothing to fight back with. I was thankful we didn’t have children yet because all the children were left behind and I don’t know what became of them. We marched along the dirt road for hours and then days. Groups of others who had been captured joined our lines as we went along. I became so weak from hunger, lack of water and sheer exhaustion. My mind was constantly wondering what was going on and what was going to happen to me, to my husband, to my whole village. Any attempt at speaking or stopping was quickly squelched by a hit or kick from one of the guards. We marched in silence. Eventually some of the women and even a few men stumbled and fell and could not go on. Even when they were kicked and hit with the guns they did not get up. They just moaned as they lay in the dirt. Finally we were pushed to march on. Those that fell were left to die. Women and men from my village fell and did not get up. I silently cried and prayed that I would make it to wherever we were going. So many people died on the way. Probably half of those we started with. After marching for many, many days I saw a small village with a large building at one end. It had tall, thick walls all around it and looked like some kind of castle. Beyond the building...the ocean. It was then I knew. Dread and fear gripped my heart. I wildly looked around for my husband and others I knew. Everyone had the same look in their eyes. A few fell to the ground screaming and crying out in fear and dread. We knew that the worst was true. I hadn't let myself believe it but now there was no escape. When we got to the building we were forced into a large open court. The men and women were separated. I never saw my husband again. The men went in one direction to a large room. We women were pushed into a room that was dark and dirty and smelled so terrible. There was hardly room to move. We were all terrified and clung to each other, crying loudly. Day after day we lived in this room. There was one small window for air but it didn't do much. Food was thrown into the room from an opening above. We fought and clawed each other to get a scrap. We slept, ate and lived in the same room where we relieved ourselves. The smell, the degradation, the fear is more than you can imagine. And then it became worse. The guards would come and take us for their own pleasure. If anyone refused or resisted, she was made to stand in the middle of the courtyard with a canon ball tied to her legs. She would stand there all day in the blazing sun without food or water. Eventually we all stopped fighting and just gave in to whatever came our way. Every once in awhile all the women from both rooms were herded to the courtyard. The first time I thought they were lining us up to shoot us or beat us or worse. But I looked up to the balcony and there was a man in a fancy uniform looking down on us. He took his time until he finally pointed at one woman. The rest of us were pushed back into the dungeon but this one woman. In the middle of the courtyard she was bathed and dressed and then sent up to the commander for his pleasure. We were degraded in every way possible. It was a horror that is beyond description or understanding. Somehow word spread of the terrible things that happened to the men. We were told that there was a death room. It had a skull and crossbones over the door. Anyone that resisted or caused trouble was sent to this room. Everyone knew that whoever went in would never come out. There was one small opening at the top of a wall but otherwise there was no ventilation of any kind. The men were left in here without food or drink until they died. The bodies were not removed until every last man had died. My mind could not comprehend what I was hearing. I prayed that my husband would not resist in any way so that he wouldn’t end up in the death room. For three months we were confined here. And then the guards came and started moving us out of the dungeon. The sunlight was so bright we couldn't open our eyes. We rarely ever saw daylight in those three months. As they were shuffling us into a line and chaining our legs together we heard screaming from across the castle. The guards laughed and said that "another one is getting his mark." The men were being branded with a hot iron. Some were so weak that the pain of this killed them. Half of the men and women died before they ever got to this point. So many died on the march and then so many more in the dungeons. How I survived I don't know. I didn't wonder what was going to happen now. I had been here long enough to know. We shuffled through a narrow hallway and into a small room. Here was a door, just wide enough for one person to barely fit and beyond it... the ocean. I no longer had the strength to fear or dread. I was weak and sick and already dead inside. One by one we moved forward until I stood in the opening. Below a small boat waited and out further a huge ship. It was time. This was the point of no return. I stepped forward into the boat and looked back one last time. I knew I would never see Africa again. I didn't know where I was going or if I would even make it, but I knew I would never be back. This is what happened. This is how I was captured by men from my country and sold as a slave to those from distant lands. These things really happened and it was much worse than words could ever describe.