The Westside Gazette

 From the Door of No Return to the Gate of Reflection: My First Steps Across Africa

Carma Henry

The "Never Again" statue, located near Albreda, The Gambia, faces Kunta Kinteh Island and commemorates the end of the Atlantic slave trade. (Photo by Renee Jones.)

A MESSAGE FROM  THE PUBLISHER

Bobby Henry

By Bobby R. Henry, Sr., Publisher, The Westside Gazette

There are some journeys that begin long before the plane leaves the ground. My recent travels across Africa from the shores of Senegal and The Gambia, through the rhythmic heartbeat of Ghana’s Accra, and finally to the modern pulse of Johannesburg, South Africa have reminded me that home is not just where we are from, but where we are connected.

Standing at the Door of No Return in Gorée Island, Senegal, I felt the echoes of my ancestors in every stone, every wave that lapped the shore. Yet, as I turned back toward the mainland, something stirred deep within me a shift from “no return” to “never again.” The Ancestral Slave River  (Donkor Nsuo) began a remarkable cleansing for me. That moment stripped me bare of illusion and clothed me anew with purpose.

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