A powerful tour of the pit where the slaves were shown for auction. It was also very difficult to view the remaining two "pods" under the cathedral where the slaves were "stacked" 75 in one and 50 in the other before being "shown" for sale. Bishop Edwards after the slave trade was abolished began "purchasing" slaves (because the sultan continued to keep slaves until 1907) and taking them to freedom on the mainland including Masasi from 1873--from here the first Christian churches began in Masasi. The Christian population here is about 3 percent of 1.2 million people. The rest are Muslims. Here Christians feel discrimated against with regards to education and employment. The Vicar General Father Michael invites us to keep the Church in Zanzibar in our prayers. We met both the Vicar General and the former Primate of Tanzania Archbishop Jonas Traheni. The diocese will be electing a new bishop from amongst their nine clergy in this diocese. Four names will be submitted to the House of bishops and the House will return two names for an election.
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