Slave camp at Paga

While Sam taught, Di and I went on a trip to the old slave camp. We arrived at a small shelter and were ushered in to sit down by a young man. He then began to whisper to Salisu, our driver. After some minutes we realised that he was the guide and had in fact begun his talk. We craned forward to listen, but when we asked any questions we were treated to a withering look and a (whispered) "As I have already told you,......." so we subsided into silence and concentrated hard. He told us that three men, one from Benin, one from Burkina Faso (the last from Ghana?) began the local slave trade. They captured workers from the land, put them in chains and marched them to the 'camp', a high bare rock with a natural spring providing water. If anyone refused to 'take the chains' they were killed publicly to discourage further resistance. At the camp they were forced to scour out 'bowls' from the rock, and their food was put into these as they squatted round them to eat. From a nearby higher rock a man watched all day for escapees or attacks from outside.If anyone was foolhardy enough to attempt escape he was caught and chained to the punishment rock, in blazing sunshine, and publicly beaten to death. The survivors were sold off in fortnightly 'markets' and marched to the Southern coast to be kept in the 'slave castles' until a ship came to take them to the plantations in America. Local chiefs kept the traders happy by providing some of their strongest men - duped into believing they were going for some kind of training, they were handed over to the traders. The guide also said that some families, having several children, would sell a couple to the traders to get money to feed the rest. Salisu said that the country was slow to recover, as the strongest had been taken, the weakest left. As the slaves huddled in the camp tended to be miserable and depressed, the slave masters used a special rock as a drum, and made them all dance to keep their spirits up. local men were on hand to give us a demonstration.