Remembering a Part of Me/ 2

Mbolo everyone! Thank you for reading my blog.I hope dear readers you are all doing well. This is a very emotional and personal post I want to share with you today again. This is Part two of my post "Remembering a Part of Me..."If you remember I was talking to you many months ago about the importance of knowing your history and your culture. When you know who you are, people will not treat you anyhow. You know where you stand. You will not be taken and following every types of trends of this world because you know your values. They might call you conservative, arrogant or whatever. That's fine because at least you stand for something, you have a personality and you stand your ground. Today in a world where things are going here and there, we need more people like that who know who they are. When you know who you are, you are not ashamed of your background and you share to inspire others. Where you are coming from, your culture,Your origins. All these things are important. I am glad I went back home to my source and today I feel really good with myself. I don't need a public person to be my inspiration because I do not know them personally speaking. My parents are my role models. My family is my support system. And if you remember also, I was telling you about the Mission of Baraka in some of my previous posts in this blog. I told you it was built in the Estuary of Gabon, precisely in Libreville. As I told you before, Libreville is the capital city of Gabon. It was built and founded by freed slaves. The name Libreville means Freetown like in Sierra Leone/ West Africa. The Mission of Baraka should be a UNESCO heritage site. As reported by our History, an American.Reverend came to Gabon around 1848 and the Mission was built around 1885 ( I must check that information well again.) To build the mission of Baraka they (the American missionaries) chose a site where slaves’ barracks were settled, hence the name Baraka. They started the first school in Gabon where English was taught for a long time. So you understand why the area/neighborhood was named Glass because Gabonese used to speak English at the time (details in my previous posts). Even in my mother tongue we have some English words. My aunt (the first born of my grandparents on my mother's side) learned at Mission of Baraka. She stayed at the girls dormitory. The buildings were so nicely built with woods of Gabon. It looked so fine at that time because they took time to do it. Schools had a complete program of Education. Nothing compared to what we see today. My mother’s aunt (my grand aunt and her husband lived in Mission Baraka with their children and later my mother and her siblings joined them there.) Ok! I must say something: In my family we do not say my cousins, my aunts. We only say mother, father, brothers and sisters . I was raised calling them Mama and Papa. My grandparents, I called them Tata and Nana. Many families in Gabon were going to stay at Mission of Baraka. Ok! I will share some pictures here. Most of them about Mission Baraka are NOt Mine! I found them , online, some from my family, some in Facebook by people. My uncle who is working genealogy showed me some of the family pictures.

A side of The girls dormitory very old picture taken in 1940. The following pictures are my aunt and my uncle at the Mission when they were children (1961) Photos credit: Souvenirs du Gabon

The next picture is my grand aunt (the one who almost got married with an American missionary but her parents said No.) in the picture she is in Mission Baraka 1954 holding in her arms one of my uncles.

My grand aunt was my grand mother's sister. My Nana. And I was calling my grand aunt Nana Andeme My mom back from America, stayed at her home when she was pregnant of me at Lalala a Droite in Libreville in 1980. My Mom my Dad and my siblings were living in Seattle, Washington state. She preferred being with her aunt in Libreville to give birth to me. This is my grand aunt later in the late 80's and early 90's. I took that picture while visiting them a Sunday with her husband at their home. I was playing with our new camera at the time. taking family pictures everywhere 😂😅 today these pictures are precious memories

She affectionately used to call me "Mi Enchè Ngone" 😄she passed away in the early 2000's. But my aunts still call me like that today when I go visiting them. I was born in Libreville in November 1980 at Hopital General. (an old hospital. It was the first built in Gabon) Short note of History quickly please! Hopital General of Libreville is in the middle of town center. It means a lot to me because not only I was born there, most of the best doctors of Gabon worked there. My uncle who was one of the first pediatricians, worked for a long time at Hopital General. He was my pediatrician and later on my son's pediatrician when I went back home in 2019 Hopital General had different names over the years. I like History a lot and I will talk a little bit about this hospital. The style of construction you could tell it came from Colonization times a part our History in Gabon. (picture from internet. Not mine. Maybe from J.A Aufrere) Hopital general that was first named Hopital of Libreville at the time. Photo of 1959

Photo credit: Souvenirs du Gabon Hopital General 1904

Hopital General also has a strong meaning to me because in 1963, Philippe Maury and the French team of actors and producer Robert Darene shot a scene there for the well known movie "La Cage" . The first Subsaharian (Black African) movie selected at the prestigious Cannes Festival in France. You know how I like movies! It was history! It was special! First African and first Gabonese on the red carpet of Cannes Festival. Philippe Maury was the father of the French Black African cinematography, a pioneer of the movies in Africa and also in Gabon. The scene he shot at Hopital General when he went to rekindle his romance with Oyane that young nurse. A lost love of his life. That scene is so moving because he left Gabon for a decade and his first thoughts when going back on his land was to see Oyane. That scene of the movie of La Cage is everything! This is Philippe Maury and Muriel David (in the role of Oyane) around1963/64 at Hopital General where I was born.

This is Hopital General today (It is now called CHUL centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Libreville. Unfortunately due to the negligence of authorities this historical hospital became what you see today...sad...No comment.) My friend works there and I often went to visit her at her office when i was recently in Libreville. I used to like that hospital so much. When I was hospitalized there my uncle and his wife and my mothers were taking good care of me in the 80's.

Many families went to live in the Mission of Baraka. Missionaries and monitors taught young women a complete School program, everything even how to take care of the house, fashion, good manners for ladies... My mom told me that at the Mission of Baraka the girls did some good exhibitions of their artwork, clothes, embroidered placemats, and crochets all handmade by the students. Young men were taught many professional skills, etc. How do I mean all this? Important activities for women and men. People were also teaching English, and they were teaching how to live a Christian life. My mother's older sister, first born of her family married a member of the government at the time. Baraka was like a place where high society would come to visit and see the work. Wives of governors and diplomats were going there to their annual exhibition of work and buy what the girls of Mission Baraka were making. That's why I believe that in those 60's, young ladies who studied there could easily meet men of the high society. It really makes sense to me that many of these young ladies dated them because they had all the good manners of high society. My mother and her siblings went to stay with her aunt and her cousins at Mission Baraka in Libreville. Mission of Baraka is still there but not like it was before. Unfortunately, the Protestant community did not take care of it properly after the American missionaries left. I mean, people still attending church there. People still have a life there. There is even a little school for children.But the condition in which they study and work ... no comments! Ah! it really needs to be renewed .and it is important that people do something because it's a part of our history heritage. People in charge of Mission of Baraka asked for donations to save the old historical buildings but... No comment! Recently a lady that I follow online posted a beautiful post and pictures of her remembering her young age living with her family in Mission Baraka. That post moved me so much. She also shared the condition of the kindergarten of Baraka. It was really sad to see in which condition teachers and students are staying in. She tried to raise some funds to help for books and a little bit of renovating some parts of the building etc. Her name is Scheena Donia very well known in French Africa because of her work, her skill in communication, brief! she is really inspiring! Her Insta and facebook page are on her name Scheena Donia. She is French and Gabonese.

Whenever someone talks or shares about Mission of Baraka, I am touched, I'm very moved because it represents a lot to me and my family. Maybe with time, people will probably do something about it. People who care about our history and our heritage in Libreville. It is also important for the evangelical aspect. I hope that the authorities of Gabon will work on this matter, and I hope that U.S. consulate will see what to do too. We don't know... We never know. This is it for my part two of this post Remembering a part of me. This is Mission Baraka today (They recently tried to work on some buildings but they still need to do more work in the part where people live and the school, the old buildings...)

That's it for me today! I am glad my return in Gabon was a good experience. It gave me more inspiration. It makes me remember the part of me. My soul needed it. My soul needed that return back home. I have my story to tell my son which going to be his too. I recently left but my heart is still in Gabon. After all this I can now move forward. Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next and last part of this post. you can also visit my website: www.poshenvogue.com This is a song that I love so much from a well known singer and poet from Gabon, Pierre Claver Akendengue. "Akewa" meaning Thank you. To me it is a Thank you to my mom and dad for birthing me, giving me this chance to be in this world, thank you to my grand parents, thank you to my land, my story , to those in my blood line that I have never seen but are a part of me...Thank you to my land of Gabon