Empathy essay- my life as a slave (capture to the auction)

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Recommended: Unwritten history of slavery

MY INTRODUCTION TO SLAVERY
We don’t have the same limitations as other people of different tribes do. I am a free woman, or shall I say I was a free woman. I am the wife of our tribes chief –Jankay Boto, that’s where I got my surname, Boto. Before my marriage I was a Touray. My father, or Paupa, was the chief of the tribe Adance. The two tribes, Adance and Denkyira, my husband’s tribe, are in the same village, Juffure. The two tribes have been friends for as long as anyone can remember, I mean they have been friends for since like ever. That’s how I got married into this tribe. As these tribes are very close to each other I can visit my Paupa’s house whenever I want. I, being the daughter of the tribes chief, was allowed to study but up till a certain age and when that age I came I wasn’t willing to stop my studies but my father and my brother wanted me to leave school and help my mom in the rice plantations. However this didn’t satisfy me, so I oppose this idea up till my male relatives agreed on me having further studies and I did succeed, thanks to my mom. Now I teach to small children in my tribe and they are quite happy with me. My students include my 2 children, Brima and Saloum. I do more of religion there, I teach my students about Islam –my religion. My name is Yaisa Boto, and now you will learn about my life in detail.

I had a very respected position in my tribe. People came up to me for consultancy because of my high experience of life. Apart from teaching I also did some house works with my slaves. I did not want to lay a heavy burden on their shoulders, I believed in justice not injustice. My husband and I had a couple of fights involving the slaves; he disagreed on the fact that I had to work with them but I ignored him. I did not want the slaves to do a lot of work. They just cleaned the house prepared the meal and did other such things. My slaves were not treated as slave; they lived in a comfy condition, they were never mistreated. I never saw them as slaves. The only two things that gave them this name, slave, were that they weren’t paid and they didn’t have the right to own property.

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