Childbirth in the ship; 2 Feb 2024

 Posted on 2 February, 2024

"CHILDBIRTH IN THE SHIP."

  On this poem, please see : Pierre Manoury : “Les Chagos : histoire d’un exil.” “EXPRESSO” magazine of “L’EXPRESS” newspaper, Mauritius, 7 to 13 November, 1999, pages 3, 15, 16, 17, 18. From this article, we can quote the following :

             “(…..) Transported in ships made for 100 to 120 persons at the most, Chagossians would be stacked at more than 300 in ferries which were really floating ruins. The duration of the trip was fearful : twenty five days sailing under the sun. Food was rare and hygiene non-existent. An ….. inhabitant of Peros Banhos (coming from Diego Garcia), Mrs Désir, was nine and half months pregnant when she was compelled to leave on the spot aboard the “Nordvaer,” a small ferry overloaded with Chagossians. The ship was heading for the Seychelles and the young woman was ill, suffering from the heat and thirst; promiscuity was intolerable. Arriving at Mahé, she was on the point of delivering. She pleaded to be allowed to go to the hospital, but the English refused. She gave birth in the ship hold and found herself a few weeks later with her baby on the quays in Port Louis (Mauritius). These cases which belong to another era are only isolated ones; they could be multiplied at will. (…..)” (My translation from French).

            Both the English and the Americans wanted an Archipelago totally cleansed of its population, for the purpose of making a military base there.

              No matter how precisely the childbirth occurred, the fact remains that the English acted criminally in the matter. The precise historical facts do not and cannot reduce the value of this poem. The English forcibly embarked a pregnant woman on the ship at the Chagos, refused medical care to her and refused to let her go ashore in the Seychelles for giving birth to the child. Both the woman and the baby were at higher risks by staying on the ship during delivery. At a hospital in the Seychelles, they would have received medical treatment. But, then, with the baby being born in the Seychelles, it would have got the nationality of that country… Apparently, that had to be avoided… Yet, both mother and baby could have died during delivery on board the ship without medical help…

  -----------------

CHILDBIRTH IN THE SHIP

 

We've been robb'd of our land, of our stable :

Such cruelty hath ne’er been seen before…...

Take courage ! We be nearing yon shore :

Soon wilt thou be made more comfortable.

 

The poor woman be wriggling in pain :

Yon grabbers about ocean control be chatting.

From no cruelty did yon lot refrain :

The woman's cries were so heart-rending…..

 *****

 NO ! The woman can't be allow'd to hospital :

That's our order, and 'tis bloody final.

You should have been gass'd along with the dogs :

There's no place for you anywhere, bunch of hogs…..

 

How can you be so full of savagery ?

Yon woman be on the point of delivery….

About civilisation ramble on your history books :

Yet, you be nothing but bloodthirsty crooks.

 

You are talking about a baby being born ??

To pieces all these lands could be blown

If ever war should break out at this place :

And you are accusing our great race……

 *****

 In the ship's murky hold,

At yon place barren and cold,

Hath been deliver'd the baby :

A monument to yon infamy…..

 

Medical care and beds to us you denied :

For your crimes one day shalt you be tried :

You ramble on about geopolitics and hegemony :

The likes of you be steep'd in bloodshed and infamy…..

 

With labour, with pain, yon poor woman was spent :

To upgrade your hospitals feverishly be you bent...

Gasping for air, our aunt in labour hit against the harsh hull :

On stocks of oxygen masks for your women you mull ….

 

You robb'd us of our farms and of our lands,

Criminally you destroy'd our gardens and huts,

While you fatten your faraway docklands

And dig greedily into your doughnuts.

 *****

Not a noise, all is silent,

In this ship, dark and cold ;

From yon woman, no more lament :

But, Poetry doth rise from the ship hold……

 

For a bed the woman had cried,

Everything her folks had tried :

Bloody savagery was in the way :

For their crimes will they have to pay.

 

What better dagger than the English language :

What better sword with which to floor the fiends…..

They will try to fool the world again, to make amends :

But, night and day around them will poetry rage.

  

*  *  * * *

(END)