Eric Lynch (Nii Saka), local historian and honorary Ghanaian Chief says he can trace his ancestors back to their enslavement in Caribbean plantations. He is a well known expert in the slave trade and its impact on Liverpool's development. So much so, that he runs one of the most popular slave trail walks in Liverpool.
A few years ago the sculptor Stephen Broadbent went on his slave trail walk and was so impressed with Eric that he invited him to perform a libation on some of his statues that were being sent to Benin. The statue was commissioned by Hope in the Cities as part of its Reconciliation Triangle initiative between Liverpool, Republic of Benin and Richmond. The Reconciliation Triangle seeks to heal the legacy of the Slave Trade, in which Liverpool had played a significant part.
Later Eric was invited to join the Reconciliation Triangle's Steering Committee as an advisor. In March 2007 Stephen Broadbent created another statute destined for Richmond, USA and Eric was part of the delegation of 15 from Liverpool that attended the official unveiling ceremony in the heart of that city. They took with them a copy of the apology made by Liverpool City Council and presented it at the ceremony.
Whilst in Richmond, Eric was taken along the trail that the slaves had been led in chains from the ships to the pens where they were sold. On leaving Richmond everyone was given a bottle of the soil from that trail.
It was then that Eric came up with the idea of taking the soil back to Britain and performing a soil scattering ceremony along the Mersey River.
"It came to me in the early hours of one morning in Richmond", said Eric.
"I can't really explain it, but I just knew that I had to do it. What a fitting way to honour our ancestors."
As a result of this Eric arranged, with the help of Mersey Ferries, to sail out to the mouth of the River Mersey, accompanied by specially invited guests including Councillor Paul Clark, Liverpool's Lord Mayor, and a delegation from Richmond, pouring the soil in the water, to lay to rest, in the African tradition, the souls of the slaves who had perished.
Eric told Diverse, "It's like a dream come through. I am extremely proud that I managed to pull this off".
Hope in the Cities Liverpool coordinator, Gerald Henderson said, "Too often in the past we have tried to sweep past history under the carpet. But the reality is that it seeps out to poison the present. I could see that this was a really liberating experience for Eric. That was so beautiful."
