Return to Africa: Salone Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! In Sierra Leone we decided to celebrate Turkey Day the Saturday before because it is not a national holiday here, and we had to teach school on November 24th. Pictures of the preparation and feast are below. First, however, a short summary from Wikipedia about the initial colonization of Freetown including the first thanksgiving service in this country. There are many parallels to the American Pilgrim story which happened over 170 years earlier.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown.

Street level view of The Cotton Tree in Freetown

The Sierra Leone Company was formed by abolitionists in England to establish a colony in Africa for Blacks living in London. They founded their first colony in what is now Freetown in 1786. These 380 freed Black Britons were given 14 pounds each, 400 guns, stationery, and 8 months of provisions. In the first 4 months 122 had died. Seeds that they had brought did not germinate and grow. The jungle conditions were harsh. Their leader absconded with most of the provisions. The native tribes were not hospitable. Even though 20 more colonists joined the group in 1788, it was not enough and the remnant of the colony moved to a different location in Fourah Bay.

Many American slaves had sided with England during the American Revolution. Some even fought for the British. After the war a large African-American population moved to Nova Scotia where they were given their freedom and promised assistance in forming new settlements. Slow settlement progress, increment weather, and racial discrimination had many of the Nova Scotians looking for a new home by 1791.

The Sierra Leone Company was willing to try colonization again and the Nova Scotian Blacks were eager participants. They sailed across the Atlantic in 15 ships led by Lt. John Clarkson. Of the 1,190 making the voyage 64 died at sea. Arriving in early March of 1792, they began the process of building the colony on the old Freetown site.

“At Freetown, the women remained in the ships while the men worked to clear the land. Lt. Clarkson told the men to clear the land until they reached a large cotton tree. After the work had been done and the land cleared, all the Nova Scotians, men and women, disembarked and marched towards the thick forest and to the cotton tree, and their preachers (all African Americans) began singing “Awake and Sing of Moses and the Lamb.”…. The land was dedicated and christened ‘Free Town,’ as ordered by the Sierra Leone Company Directors. This was the first thanksgiving service.”

In 1795 Freetown became the home of 550 Jamaicans who also fought for Britain. When Britain finally abolished slavery in 1807 it started a campaign off the west African coast to capture any slave ship. The slaves on these ships were brought to Freetown. By 1815 the Freetown population had risen by 6,000 recaptured slaves from many different regions. It became the ‘melting pot’ of west Africa.
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Photos from our Thanksgiving feast on Saturday, November 19, 2016. Twelve PCVs (and Ann and me) joined four staff members from the PC regional office. Featured on the menu: barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rice, cassava leaf, papaya, salad, macaroni and cheese, creamed corn casserole, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin cake, and banana pudding. The chicken was catered, but everything else on the menu was prepared by PCVs or the regional staff. Thanks were extended to cooks, people traveling a long way, the food, and new family.