PANAFEST in the DUNGEONS - an Experience of Natural Mystic

Natural Mystic: A Prologueseveral years ago when I entered the Slave Dungeons, I learnt that all manner of people visited the grounds. From all over the world, people embarked on a pilgrimage to this place to see for themselves, cast iron evidence of humanity's cruelest treatment on its own kind. I saw with my own eyes the diversity of backgrounds from where many visitors came. Different people came for different reasons. Whiles some visitors came out of curiosity, others came out of...
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Natural Mystic: A Prologueseveral years ago when I entered the Slave Dungeons, I learnt that all manner of people visited the grounds. From all over the world, people embarked on a pilgrimage to this place to see for themselves, cast iron evidence of humanity's cruelest treatment on its own kind. I saw with my own eyes the diversity of backgrounds from where many visitors came. Different people came for different reasons. Whiles some visitors came out of curiosity, others came out of necessity. Whiles some visitors came there as a way of spending their leisure time and extra money, others came there to know a part of their history. Whiles some visitors came in there for adventure, others came in there for a spiritual connection and reconnection. Many of these people came in with different attitudes, different views and different values. Some were more informed than others were. Some were more sophisticated than others were. Yet, others were more humanitarian than others were. Some were more progressive in their outlook than others were. Some visitors were weird. Others were genteel. Many were levelheaded.Savants visited the Dungeons the most. Artists also were a major segment of visitors. The most famous people in the world could have easily been chanced, and still could be chanced at the Dungeons. As a world heritage monument, it brought the world to these holy grounds. It was the center of famous Pan-African festivals. And, it still is. There were unending stories about activities that accompanied these festivals and their legacies. I went into the Dungeons as a student volunteer tour guide under the auspices of the National Service Secretariat in 2003. I had no Idea what to expect. I had no idea what the Dungeons had to offer me. I had little knowledge but a big crave to observe and to learn.I soon uncovered certain truths within the Dungeons that I needed more time to tell to the visiting Diaspora African. The much talked about festivals of the Dungeons were beckoning me for participation. And, this was the time for me to end my volunteer service officially in the Dungeons. I had to find a way to extend my stay in order to accomplish my mission fully. It was not long after this before I realized that my presence in the Slave Dungeons was not by choice or by chance but for historical reasons.I soon began to uncover all the covert schemes within the Dungeons-official and unofficial. I began to connect spiritually to the Dungeons. I began to get more progressive in my attitude within the Dungeons. I questioned the status quo. I defied conventions. The storms began to brew. There were confrontations here and there. Some confrontations with visitors. And, with workers within the Dungeons. And, others with the police. My experiences were unique. Some were exciting and adventurous. And yet, others were daring.I was in the Slave Dungeons for nearly two years, not just working, but also studying and trying to be a part of history in the making. What follows, therefore, is a portrait of a moment, no more in the environment of that world heritage monument of a castle Dungeon. I did not go into the Slave Dungeons intending to write a book, or, indeed, to write at all; but my encounter with the place affected me so deeply and profoundly that in the end I had no choice. So: a brief period, but I believe, a crucial and revealing one because it was an entire secluded world revealed only to a few privileged persons through providence, for there were others in there with me who did not see or experience what I did.And, in the end, as I had not thought it would become, it was an experience of a natural mystic.