By Gian Piero Nali
I was a slave; my body, my time and breath belonged to the owner of the plantation I was in. During weeks, months, and years I worked on the fields leaving my sweat and blood. Since a very long time I hadn’t experienced freedom and my last hopes had disappeared.
One especially sunny day, I acquired a new hope, I heard other slaves talking about the possibility of escaping from the plantation. This could mean danger or even death but I was willing to pay any price for becoming a free man allowing me to have a better and happier life.
So I went closer and talked to them. They told me that they were planning to flee at the moment when there was less surveillance around the plantation: at night. At this time only a few guards were needed, given that slaves were very tired of working and had to sleep as much as they could during the few hours available to do so. A moment after, a very bad feeling got into my mind… the brands burned in our skins. These were impossible for me or for anyone to remove without unbearable pain or leaving huge scars. But this wasn’t the only thing I had to worry about. If we escaped, we would have to avoid all the other people outside the plantation, like the authorities from the area, which could capture us and take us back to the plantation.
I had already been ascended to a head person and if I was captured, I would have wasted the effort and energy I had put on my owner’s farm and on. I finally resolved myself to go, to escape. The preparation was to gather what we required and to organize the group. When everything was ready, we had to wait until night-time. It was dark and warm but there was some wind. We came together in the hut I slept in. During the day, the ones involved tried to eat as little as possible and brought their gourds to collect water from the river which wasn’t far from the limits. Afterwards, we began our journey. The escape route was roughly drawn with a stick on the soil. Even two children came with us.
It was a dodgy walk; outside the perimeter the woods stood almost everywhere with some rather thick bushes added to the snakes that killed dozens of workers every year.
Once we had crawled under the barbed wires of the spot, we started to walk towards the river carrying most of what we needed to survive. As we paced away, the sound of water getting louder and closer could be heard. Our goal was to get to a shelter that we could find such as a cave. Or I could help to make one with the knowledge that my mother and father had taught me in my old tribe. This I hadn’t forgot because I loved my parents and the village; and now I was in the middle of the forest, trying to find the way to get a new type of life. If I died, I wanted at least to die after getting freedom and a good job.
Now at the side of the river, we filled every gourd with fresh water and crossed the shallow water with caution for not capturing the attention of any animal, like a crocodile or something similar. On the other side, we kept walking without rest for three hours, and then stayed in a kind of abandoned hut. The only items we had as a light source were some fire torches. We slept in it for about an hour and resumed walk rapidly. If we didn’t go away fast, slaves that were still at the plantation could send people to search for us and get us back to work, where we were likely to get beaten as a punishment.
When we could walk no more, we had finally got to a big, isolated house near the coast. We knocked on the door waiting for a friendly answer. We were received with a smile by a woman who we saw accompanied by a pair of black men similar to us. Our group got filled with hope. The ex-slaves at the house were some kind of translators for us. They had learnt how to speak the local language and told us that they had been given freedom many years ago by a plantation owner who had bought them in an auction with the purpose of reselling them at a higher price, but grew fond of them quickly, deciding to keep both. That person was the man that owned the house we found. Fortunately we were a small amount of people so we could perfectly fit inside the house. The owners of the house gave us some delicious food that we hadn’t tasted for long years. They knew exactly the risk they ran by having fugitive, branded slaves but didn’t worry about it. They knew how to keep us safe.
There were two spare rooms. The floor was covered with a carpet which we used as a bed. Small in number (7), we had more space than at the tiny cabin designated for us at the plantation, a softer place to sleep and a warm room.
The next morning, I heard about a miracle! The translators made us know that the family was going in a voyage to Canada in a week, where there was no slavery. I was so happy I couldn’t believe it. It was a comfortable and a little bit scary week. The family got the news on our escape but didn’t tell anyone about it.
The moment of the trip had come. We got into a ship and enjoyed the long journey. Amazingly the people in it didn’t suspect at all, probably because the boat had only stopped to load extra and some more people. The vessel had a small bed for each of us and enough food, contrasting hugely with the terrible conditions lots of us had to bear before, horribly packed in a compartment inside a vast a wooden slave trade ship. Now I could enjoy the fresh wind and the sea. The fish tasted fantastically taking pleasure from the journey “home.”
As soon as we got to close our destination we found that the place was freezing. Colder than any place I had been in my life ever before. It would be the country I would stay for the rest of my life, working for the family of the people that took us to this place until each acquired a job. I achieved something better than my goal and am still happy with the individuals who helped me to get here. I miss my family and friends at the fields and at the village in Africa, but hopefully I will manage to move on and eventually die in peace.
One especially sunny day, I acquired a new hope, I heard other slaves talking about the possibility of escaping from the plantation. This could mean danger or even death but I was willing to pay any price for becoming a free man allowing me to have a better and happier life.
So I went closer and talked to them. They told me that they were planning to flee at the moment when there was less surveillance around the plantation: at night. At this time only a few guards were needed, given that slaves were very tired of working and had to sleep as much as they could during the few hours available to do so. A moment after, a very bad feeling got into my mind… the brands burned in our skins. These were impossible for me or for anyone to remove without unbearable pain or leaving huge scars. But this wasn’t the only thing I had to worry about. If we escaped, we would have to avoid all the other people outside the plantation, like the authorities from the area, which could capture us and take us back to the plantation.
I had already been ascended to a head person and if I was captured, I would have wasted the effort and energy I had put on my owner’s farm and on. I finally resolved myself to go, to escape. The preparation was to gather what we required and to organize the group. When everything was ready, we had to wait until night-time. It was dark and warm but there was some wind. We came together in the hut I slept in. During the day, the ones involved tried to eat as little as possible and brought their gourds to collect water from the river which wasn’t far from the limits. Afterwards, we began our journey. The escape route was roughly drawn with a stick on the soil. Even two children came with us.
It was a dodgy walk; outside the perimeter the woods stood almost everywhere with some rather thick bushes added to the snakes that killed dozens of workers every year.
Once we had crawled under the barbed wires of the spot, we started to walk towards the river carrying most of what we needed to survive. As we paced away, the sound of water getting louder and closer could be heard. Our goal was to get to a shelter that we could find such as a cave. Or I could help to make one with the knowledge that my mother and father had taught me in my old tribe. This I hadn’t forgot because I loved my parents and the village; and now I was in the middle of the forest, trying to find the way to get a new type of life. If I died, I wanted at least to die after getting freedom and a good job.
Now at the side of the river, we filled every gourd with fresh water and crossed the shallow water with caution for not capturing the attention of any animal, like a crocodile or something similar. On the other side, we kept walking without rest for three hours, and then stayed in a kind of abandoned hut. The only items we had as a light source were some fire torches. We slept in it for about an hour and resumed walk rapidly. If we didn’t go away fast, slaves that were still at the plantation could send people to search for us and get us back to work, where we were likely to get beaten as a punishment.
When we could walk no more, we had finally got to a big, isolated house near the coast. We knocked on the door waiting for a friendly answer. We were received with a smile by a woman who we saw accompanied by a pair of black men similar to us. Our group got filled with hope. The ex-slaves at the house were some kind of translators for us. They had learnt how to speak the local language and told us that they had been given freedom many years ago by a plantation owner who had bought them in an auction with the purpose of reselling them at a higher price, but grew fond of them quickly, deciding to keep both. That person was the man that owned the house we found. Fortunately we were a small amount of people so we could perfectly fit inside the house. The owners of the house gave us some delicious food that we hadn’t tasted for long years. They knew exactly the risk they ran by having fugitive, branded slaves but didn’t worry about it. They knew how to keep us safe.
There were two spare rooms. The floor was covered with a carpet which we used as a bed. Small in number (7), we had more space than at the tiny cabin designated for us at the plantation, a softer place to sleep and a warm room.
The next morning, I heard about a miracle! The translators made us know that the family was going in a voyage to Canada in a week, where there was no slavery. I was so happy I couldn’t believe it. It was a comfortable and a little bit scary week. The family got the news on our escape but didn’t tell anyone about it.
The moment of the trip had come. We got into a ship and enjoyed the long journey. Amazingly the people in it didn’t suspect at all, probably because the boat had only stopped to load extra and some more people. The vessel had a small bed for each of us and enough food, contrasting hugely with the terrible conditions lots of us had to bear before, horribly packed in a compartment inside a vast a wooden slave trade ship. Now I could enjoy the fresh wind and the sea. The fish tasted fantastically taking pleasure from the journey “home.”
As soon as we got to close our destination we found that the place was freezing. Colder than any place I had been in my life ever before. It would be the country I would stay for the rest of my life, working for the family of the people that took us to this place until each acquired a job. I achieved something better than my goal and am still happy with the individuals who helped me to get here. I miss my family and friends at the fields and at the village in Africa, but hopefully I will manage to move on and eventually die in peace.
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