On The Slave Ship(Diary of My Great Grandfather)

Dear Diary

I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind.

I was  put down under the decks, and there I received the most cruel stench in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life. I became so sick , that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me, but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me ,their regurgitated food that they ate, to me, and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands and laid me across. I had never experienced anything of this kind before, and although, not being used to the water, I  feared that  the first time I saw it,  I would have jumped over the side, but I could not, and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, I should leap into the water and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. In a little time after, the poor chained men I found some of my own nation. I inquired of these what was to be done with us, they gave me to understand we were to be carried to these white people's country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate, but still I feared I  brutal cruelty .One white man in particular I saw, he tossed a black person overboard because he was back talking to him of why he was caught and tied up in ropes and chains. This made me fear these people more, and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner.

The stench of the ship really bugged me, and I couldn't get a grasp of oxygen.I thought to myself I would rather die then doing work for these inhospitable creatures, not human beings.The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This so that the air soon became unfit for  breathing  from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died.I just want this to be over The next day without getting enough sleep they had taken a number of fishes, and when they had killed and satisfied themselves ,  rather than give any of them to us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could,

 One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my people who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the netting and jumped into the sea, immediately another person also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed. Those of us that were the most active were in a moment put down under the deck, and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her and get the boat out to go after the slaves.

After waiting a long time to get to shore I was put in jail because I tried to escape.When the ship arrived to shore  I thought no one would notice and I fled the scene . Suddenly a slave owner runs towards me and grabs my arm really tightly like he is stopping my blood flow and slaps me in my face really hard .He drags me toward the other slave owner and tells him to put me in jail.After putting me in jail. I tought to myself is this it for the my people? I would rather kill myself then being a slave.There is hope too I guessed in my mind maybe just maybe. And after that I waited. 1 day, a week, a moth, a year and then several years. Nothing happened. I started to get sick. Mad of myself for trying to escape that day. But then rumors spread that North and South was in a war. But still nothing happened. Years went by. I started to die. I could feel my strength leaving me. And then one day I fainted. I couldn't see anything. Everything  was a blur. And then I felt a hand. A gentle hand pulling me up from my trance. It was a General. "Get up, My friend. The north has won the war. Slavery is abolished. You are free. Free.......Freedom......these words meant so much to me. Tears ran down my face. The General patted me on my shoulder. He took me to a healer. I started to recover. And start a normal life.

                                                                                                       Wilbur

By-Daniel Afzal and Jarraf Amin