On the right bank of the mighty Suriname river, on a 125 acre plot of land
There survives a lone Big Tree
It marks the outer border of Bigi Bon, Grote Boom in Dutch, Big Tree in English
Bigi Bon was a plantation with 80 enslaved people in Suriname
Ironically the official name of this slave camp full of people who had no freedom, was La Liberté, The Freedom. Go figure.
In the archives of this place
You’ll find people, with their children and their grandchildren
Their friends
Their relatives
Their neighbors
All enslaved Africans
People with no autonomy, stripped of their past, their future uncertain
But with only their pride and their resilience to cling to
They did something amazing
They figured out that they themselves could be a Bigi Bon
That they could stand proud and rise victorious over centuries of efforts to quell their spirit
They purchased the plantation
And turned this place that spelled the marginalization for their ancestors
Into an investment for themselves and for the generations that would follow after
They planted the Big Tree
And handed it down
The next generation raised their families there
Their children were born at Bigi Bon
They were raised In the shade of the Big Tree
Bigi Bon is still in their possession
Once there were two Big Trees that marked its border on the banks of the mighty Sranan River
One survived
Imagine what all it has been witness to …