The slavemonument on Zanzibar

In 1997 I went to Bagamoyo in Tanzania to visit a sculptor school.I wanted to know African sculptors and see how they worked.
Bagamoyo is a little village by the Indian Ocean. This village was formerly a town and a destination for all slavecaravans that traveled from the interior of the country.There the slaves could recover and be fed.Then they could be shipped to the big slavemarket on Zanzibar and sold at high prices.
The history of Bagamoyo affected me deeply,the air was full of memories.Each day I walked by the Arabian whitewashed houses where the slaves were kept.
After a few weeks in Bagamoyo I had the idea to make a memorial to honour the millions of people who were captured and sold as slaves. The subject was taboo among those living in Bagamoyo as their ancestors had been slaves.Therefor I got the idea to place the monument under earthleveal.
The monument was to consist of some slaves chained up in a pit.I made five figures somewhat bigger than natural size,first in clay,then in concrete.All the time I worked in close cooperation with the sculptureschool under an extra roof beside the school.
It turned out to be a time consuming task,searching economic sponsors,contacting politicians and so on.All in all,the project lasted for two years.
Well,at last it was time to ship the sculptures to Zanzibar by a fishing boat.
At the harbourcustom I had to explain that it was a gift to the Anglican Church in Stone town.Furthermore I had to promise to cover them during the whole transport.Otherwise it would be a violation of Moslem law that forbids showing naturalistic art publicly.Finally the five sculptures reached their intended destination close to the church in Stone town city,exactly at the old slavemarketplace.
The solemn inaguration occurred on the 8:th of December 1998,with many speeches and covered by media.There was an air of serenity over the whole place.