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ednesday, 14th May, 2014 is the day when we
went to Allada. We left the house at about 7:30 A.M. taking the road to Allada.
The journey was a little bit tough because of the rough state of the road which
was under construction. There was a lot of traffic jam due to the narrow state
of the road. I remember the time when we had to come out and push our bus
because one side entered into the gutter (in between the two lanes of the road)
as we were trying to by-pass a truck packed on the other side of the road. What
about the dust we inhaled? All these made the one hour journey stressful.
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| Toussaint Louverture |
There are many places to visit in Allada such as: le Temple
d’Adjahouto; le Vodoun Dan; la Place Toussaint Louverture; le Sanctuaire de l’Immaculee
Conception; and so on. But we visited only two of these places – “la Place Toussaint
Louverture” and “le Sanctuaire de l’Immaculee Conception.” The first place we
went to was “la Place de Toussaint Louverture” situated outside the town on the
road to Abomey. It was there we were told that Allada was formally known as
Ardres, one of the earliest West African kingdoms that maintained diplomatic
relations with European countries. Don Matteo Lopez was the first ambassador of
Allada to France. Allada was the spiritual capital of the kings of Dahomey and Porto-Novo.
It experienced great economic development which eventually declined following a
territorial expansion by the neighbouring Abomey kingdom. Unfortunately, the
whole empire of Allada collapsed when it was merged with the great Dahomey kingdom
by king Agadja.
Another important personality we learnt about at “la Place
Toussaint Louverture” is the renowned army general, Toussaint. Born in Saint-Dominic,
he was a slave child whose father traced his origin to Allada, Benin. We were
told that Toussaint was a courageous man who from 1796 to 1802 organized a
revolution against the French that would later ensure that slaves also had the
right to be treated as human beings. But no doubt, he made all these efforts at
the expense of his life, because he died in captivity in 1803.
Furthermore, we went to the Sanctuary of Immaculate
Conception where we had Mass. It was a big sanctuary situated along the road to
Ze. It is under the care of the Franciscans. There we met one of the Franciscan
Fathers (Fr. Stephano) who told us how they came to Benin to establish their
community. He said that they came in 1990 in order to honour the invitation of
Monseigneur Assogba, the Emeritus Archbishop of Cotonou Diocese. The Archbishop
once visited them in Rome and requested them to come to his diocese and
establish their community there. So they came and at the beginning, since there
was no house for them, they stayed with the Carmelites. Later they moved to
Allada (where they are now) and built the sanctuary. It is a big and beautiful
sanctuary with a huge Marian statue on top of the roof. Fr. Stephano also
explained the meaning of the images of Saints which we saw there. He also
explained the significance of the tower which was in the premises of the
sanctuary.
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| Sanctuary of Immaculate Conception |
Finally, beside the sanctuary is a Radio Station (Radio
Immaculee) also run by the Franciscans. The station is used as a means of
evangelization, to spread the Gospel to far places. We were divided into groups
so that we were allowed, group by group, to go into the studio and see with our
own eyes certain gadgets used to broadcast news. Some of us even had the
privilege of giving some reflections in the studio which were broadcast live in
some of the Radio programmes. It was after all these that we had our lunch, and
eventually took the road back to Calavi. In general, I would say that we had a
fruitful experience, an experience so fruitful that it dispels the stress we
encountered on the rough and dusty road. We thank God for such an enriching
experience.
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