By Joe Ombuor

I returned to Stone Town, Zanzibar and onto the beach where dhows overloaded with slaves emptied their human cargo. I followed the path, now the most prominent street in Stone Town, through which slaves were marched in chains to the slave market.

The market is today the site of the Anglican Church built in 1876, after the abolition of slave trade. Freed slaves from the Mewing village where my excursion started provided most of the labour.

The Anglican Church standing where slave market used to be.

Stars representing slave flogging. [PHOTOS: JOE OMBUOR]

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Tears well in my eyes as my guide luridly narrates how slaves were stripped half naked and mercilessly whipped as a test of their mettle and endurance as their potential buyers watched in amusement. "Those who dared cry or scream in pain during this test were perceived an embarrassment to their owners and suffered an automatic drop in value," says guide Peter Sudi.

"They were sold to less endowed buyers not capable of taking good care of them. Worse still, failure to get a buyer resulted in cruel death by drowning in a deep well where they were tossed like worthless objects. Children, also considered worthless by the Arab traders were thrown into the well," Sudi explains.

He shows me the site inside the church of the mkunazi tree, under which the slaves were flogged, represented by a mark on the marble floor in front of the altar.

A mkunazi tree similar to the original one is today flourishing outside the church, a living symbol of man’s cruelty against fellow man.

A short distance away within Stone Town is Mkunazini police station named after the infamous tree.