Following Christopher Columbus, 1498, we sailed along the coast of Guiana, to anchor here at the Salvation Islands/Iles du Salut /Devils Islands. What names for these islands! This is where 70 000 convicts were imprisoned since 1887 and 1938. And I walked their steps today. I shared the agonizing feelings in the corridors, I touched the rusted chain hooks in the walls, I looked through the solid bars to freedom. I closed the heavy thick wooden door, locking in a loved one, leaving him behind without hope.
I remembered some names, Dreyfuss, Papillon and I took a deep breath, and I exhaled a Salute of Love to all who suffered and died here.
In the church I read the names, twelve A4 pages full, of people who lost their lives on these islands. The dead were covered in cloth attached to rocks and then placed in a coffin. With a little boat the coffin was emptied at a certain spot in the sea and the empty coffin was returned until next time. Maybe `Devil`s Islands`, is a more appropriate name for this archipelago of islands!
I remembered some names, Dreyfuss, Papillon and I took a deep breath, and I exhaled a Salute of Love to all who suffered and died here.
In the church I read the names, twelve A4 pages full, of people who lost their lives on these islands. The dead were covered in cloth attached to rocks and then placed in a coffin. With a little boat the coffin was emptied at a certain spot in the sea and the empty coffin was returned until next time. Maybe `Devil`s Islands`, is a more appropriate name for this archipelago of islands!
Ps. The only convict who came prepared again, was our Skipper! Even in the darkest of days he will remember some` proviand`!
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