Seychelles a history of slavery: once upon a time the shores of the Seychelles offered shelter to hundreds of liberated African slaves. Tony Mathiot recently visited one such spot, the "Mission Ruins", the sanctuary where the children of freed African slaves stayed.

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH 09

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Seychelles a history of slavery: once upon a time the shores of the Seychelles offered shelter to hundreds of liberated African slaves. Tony Mathiot recently visited one such spot, the "Mission Ruins", the sanctuary where the children of freed African slaves stayed.

IT IS AN OLD PLACE OF MOURNFUL beauty and sweet, peaceful gloom that arouses a titillating sensation of poignancy in the visitor. The "Mission Ruins" are actually the ruins of Venn's Town, an industrial institution and sanctuary that accommodated children of liberated African slaves between 1876 and 1889.

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Situated in the hills of Sans Soucis on the east side of Mahe, the main island (151 sq km) of the Seychelles archipelago, the institution was named after Henry Venn, an Anglican missionary, who in 1799, together with William Wilberforce, the English abolitionist, co-founded the Church Missionary Society to spread Christianity in Africa and Asia, as well as creating orphanages for children of slaves. If today the place lures locals and foreign visitors alike to experience the contemplative serenity of its hushed isolation and the beau...

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