The Diary Of Ada-afo Equiano

The Diary Of Ada-afo Equiano: Capture

Capture

Immediately, I rushed to the girls’ bedroom. Adannaya was backed against the wall, her trembling finger pointing. I followed my sister’s gaze and felt my own eyes widen. There were men, strange men with white skin jumping down all the wall in our row of houses and running through the gardens. I heard our own back door bang open. Suddenly, the white-skinned men were advancing towards me.

Everything was a blur after that. I remember firm, strong hands taking hold of me and Adannaya screaming. My vision was diluted by fear and terror. What was happening? Why were they here? I remember having a gag put around my mouth and my feet carrying me somewhere in all the confusion. There were scuffles and shouts in a foreign tongue.

Cold morning air hit my face as I stumbled forwards. Damp grass was beneath my feet and I could hear my sister whimpering. Someone held a strong grip on me. I felt the wall scrape my arms as I was bundled over it. Why were these men taking me away from my home? I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them I would find it was all just a bad dream.

I wasn’t dreaming. I had been captured by a ‘raiding party’. For six or seven months during the Gregorian year of 1788 I travelled along the River Ase. Our party passed through many villages, kidnapping more people: men, women and children alike. None of us spoke the same language, so we could not talk about why we had been taken. You might wonder why I do not elaborate on such a long period of time. Truth be told, every day was the same monotonous routine. The only disturbances were when someone was punished. My eyes widened at the cruel, wicked ways of life out of my village. My village- my home, oh how I missed home! What would Father do when he found out we were gone? Would he think we had run away?

We marched at about a yard distance from each other, tied by the neck with leather thongs, about thirty in a string. That slowly reached forty as winter turned into spring and spring into summer. It had been bad walking barefoot in the cold, but in the summer it was scorching hot and my feet were aching with blisters. To you it may seem strange that I did not refuse to keep walking, but we had all seen the type of punishments given if we were disobedient.

I was still so confused as to why I had been captured. What was going to happen to my father, brothers and sisters at home? Adannaya barely spoke to me as we trooped through village after village. The strange white-skinned men barely talked to us, and when they did I could not understand them. We ate food that turned my stomach with revolt. I was dirty, tired, and had almost lost all hope.

We had just climbed a rather large hill. I could feel perspiration glistening on my forehead. I averted my eyes from my swollen feet to the sight in front of me. It was the sea! I had heard many stories about the sea, but it was wonderful to see for myself. It was wide, sparking and the most brilliant turquoise blue! There was this bubbly feeling inside of me because we were moving closer to the sea. However, things were about to get worse.

We were then examined in a field near the sea by a man named a ‘surgeon’. The older men and women were stripped of their clothes and we were all examined with impossible scrutiny. Suddenly, the surgeon pointed and my sister and I, exchanging words with our white-skinned captors. What was going to happen now?