Memory Village
Visitors are invited to relive, actively, the reality of the life and experiences of: Africans, slaves and revolted free blacks in the Americas. This historical village includes 7 (seven) main sites:
Title 1: Preparation
Site: Initiation house
Activities: Personal and group preparations; both spiritual and physical.
Title 2: Ancestors
Site : America-Europe-Africa houses
Activities: Experience aspects of peaceful daily village life of the people of the Americas, village life of Europe during the Dark Ages and one of the African kingdoms before colonization.
Title 3: Slave Trade
Site: House of Slaves replica prison, slave ship, auction block
Activities: Relive the capture of Africans, conditions of the slave concentration camp waiting for shipment on a slave ship, the middle passage and the sale of slaves in chains in Kiskeya (one of the Taino names for the whole island) on the auction block.
Title 4: Slavery
Site: Sugar Plantation
Activities: Experience the daily conditions of master and slave on the plantation during the colonial era.
Title 5: "Mawon" or Run Aways
Site: Taino and African-Haitian encampment
Activities: Relive the hospitable reception by the remaining Tainos to the escaped "Mawon" from the plantations as well as the sharing of cultural and scientific knowledge between the Tainos and African-Haitians.
Title 6: Revolt
Site: Bwa Kayiman (name of original historical location)
Activities: Participate in a recreation of the sacred ceremony in order to commit to work for freedom and against all forms of domination and exploitation.
Title 7: Healing
Site: Nourishment and Meditation Houses
Activities: Enter each space to participate in a celebatory meal and then meditate and share in group form about the possible actions for change in order to bring healing.
Preparation Stage
Entry to initiation house with tall administrative house
The Ancestors 1- Amerindians
Americas
The Ancestors 2- Europe
Medieval Europe
The Ancestors 3-Africa
African Village
The Slave Trade
Goree, House of Slaves
Transatlantic Trade
The slave ship
The plantation
The sugar cane mill
The Indigenous People
Taino Homes
The Blueprints
2
Symbols of the 3 continents: The Native home, the European slave ship cut-away and the west coast of Africa.
3
The symbol outlines for the logo
4
The full logo symbols of healing the encounter
The ancestors
“We, the ancestors from America, Europe and Africa, greet you and come to share our history with you through the N a Sonje Foundation in the Memory Village.”
Native American
“The land was always sacred to us, the First People of the Americas, come….and build a sacred place to remember…….”
Europe
“Europe’s civilization was growing and changing, come …have courage …remember the Middle Ages and what came afterwards too…………………”
Africa
“Mother Africa, was the cradle of humanity, our cultures were rich and diverse, our nations were prosperous, come……remember them here………..”
Our encounter
“Our encounter was traumatic, come and remember it to heal it for your children’s sake….follow us…..remember”
the hemisphere
Haiti
Ayiti
The Center Department
Pernier
map of land
Come with us, through space and time, to the land we called ‘Ayiti’, to the site of the Memory Village.
reception
This is where the transition begins. Follow us…
welcome and decision
This is where you, the visitor, will learn the depths of possible personal involvement in the experience by making a decision and going on to begin the adventure with us, the First People.
European Village
We journey on to a small European town, where you will remember the Middle Ages, with its commerce and guilds, influenced by the growing church.
African Village
In the African Village, you will participate in a traditional activity. Your commitment will be tested and proven now, as you begin to live our history as one of us…
The House of Captives, Goree Senegal
Today this is a museum in Senegal called the “House of Captives”, but for us it was the last memory of Africa as we waited to go through the “Door of No Return”…
The Slave Ship
Take courage, we will be with you. Go down into its belly, to know, to remember…
The Auction Block
Deep humiliation had no end on the Auction Block, and there were no options to submission, other than death. Remember…
The plantation homes
The women and girls were safer in our humble shacks than in the master’s house, but alas, the mulatto race was born…
The sugar mill
Remember the furnace of capitalism: Sugar has zombified us all…
Taino homes
The First People, Tainos (of Haiti), awaited our escape, to pass on the keys to their wisdom and to help reconstruct our famillies and communities.
Bwa Kayiman
At this site, the first Pan-African Congress in the Americas was held, and the commitment to end slavery began…
Act of Independence
A tribute to the victory over oppression and the birth of a nation. But after 200 years of independence, what has happened?