Braverisms and such

Sorry for the delayed post! This past week had some interesting moments but overall I just haven't known what to write about...hint hint-suggestions are welcome! :)

Last weekend we had our last organized trip with CIEE to the Central Region and the city of Cape Coast. For those who don't know, Cape Coast was the first capital of Ghana and was a main stop on in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The castles at Cape Coast and Elmina were used to store slaves for about 3 months while they were waiting to be shipped abroad. I don't think that you can prepare yourself for an experience where you are walking through the dungeons where so many people suffered either to their death in the castle, on the ship crossing the ocean, or wherever they may have ended up in the US or Europe. There are two castles to visit in the area, one in Cape Coast and one in Elmina (the oldest castle). I chose to go to Cape Coast and plan to visit Elmina when Andy visits in a couple weeks.

Cape Coast was built to hold about 1,300 slaves-1,000 men and 300 women. When the slaves arrived at the castle they were auctioned off and then branded to make it easier to keep track of who they belonged to (since they were seen as property) and then they were sent to the dungeons where they would wait 3 months before being shipped away. The dungeons that they were held in were less than sanitary and had little to no light to prevent them from rebelling (if you could see daylight wouldn't you want to get out of there?). In fact, archaeologists excavated the floor in the men's dungeons to demonstrate the inches upon inches of human waste that had accumulated over the years thanks to the lack of bathrooms or anything. Needless to say even to this day the dungeons have a certain stench to them that just makes the experience even more impactful. The women had a separate room that was used for public shaming when they refused to sleep with the British soldiers so that the other women could see what would happen to them if they also refused.

View of the castle from within the courtyard.

The room that impacted me the most was a room called the cell which was used for punishment. It had no windows or air holes at all and was closed by not one but three doors to completely block air flow. The hardest part was seeing marks on the floor that were left by the slaves struggling with their chains. They were locked in this tiny cell and still chained up! The fact that marks in the floor from these chains are still visible today is incredible.

Inside the cell.

Another hard thing to deal with is the fact that there was a church placed right over top of the male dungeons. So while the people below were suffering and given just enough food to keep them alive, the British were praising their God in the room above. That's something really hard to swallow.

There was a door called the "Door of No Return" that was the last doorway that the slaves went through on their way to the ships. Once through this door they were never to return again. However, in recent years the door has added a sign on the back saying the "Door of Return" so that when descendants of former slaves from the African Diaspora come to Ghana they can walk through and return to where their ancestors came through.

Door of Return

Something else that we all noted was the insane beauty that surrounds the castle. The ocean, coastal view that we saw isn't something new. It is the same view that the British had back then. It's hard to imagine such beauty shining on such a horrible place.

View from the castle overlooking the ocean..

Overall, this was a really interesting and impactful experience for everyone involved. After the tours and dinner we had a reflection session with the entire group (almost 50 students either originally from America or at least studying there, from all walks of life, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds). It was really interesting hearing other people talk about their experience because it helped me to reflect more on mine. In Ghana, people don't really talk or learn about the slave trade. It is seen as something that happened in the past but we shouldn't dwell on it. For some of my peers it is hard to understand why they're not angry at the white man. Others may agree in part or in whole with the Ghanaian view. I believe that it is not something that should be forgotten but also something that we need to move past. Just like any tragedy, I believe we must teach ourselves and everyone else about it in order to prevent it from happening again. However, I don't believe that anyone should be angry about it anymore. If we dwell on it now and play the blame game we are just recreating the problem. During the discussion we discussed some race issues in the states that still occur today. For example how at lunch in some schools the black kids sit on one side and the whites on the other. A few people said things like, "the white people need to go over to the other side and make friends with the black kids". While I agree that we shouldn't be segregated by saying that the white people have to do it in order to integrate with the black people is recreating the cycle. Why should the white kids or black kids HAVE to do anything? Then it is a white vs. black problem. The issue is that it should be a human problem, everyone should make an effort to sit, or work, or study, or whatever with everyone not because they're black, white or purple, but because they're a fellow human being.

Sorry for the rant but those are some of the thoughts I left this experience with.

On Sunday we went to Kakum National Park and walked the canopy walk on bridges above the forest. I'm usually the one crying in my dad's tree stand because I'm too afraid of heights that I can't get down but for some reason this REALLY high, REALLY rocky bridge didn't scare me that much. Maybe it was because I was singing a bit (I did that on the mountains too so maybe it's a coping mechanism) or maybe because I just kept telling the people ahead of me who stopped for 10 minute photo shoots to keep walking. But in the end I was slightly disappointed with the walk..oh well, it was cool nonetheless! Then we had lunch at a restaurant with a crocodile pond and some other cool birds, etc. Then we just made our way back to East Legon. I'm not sure if I can really express how much I love getting back home from a trip, but I always want to rush in the door and hug EVERYONE. (it may also be because my host-mom's cooking beats any food you can get at a restaurant and I enjoyed light soup and rice with the family for dinner! YUM!

Channeling my inner model on this crazy high bridge with my friends Erika and Jessalyn.

A view looking down.

The only other exciting thing we did recently was a community service project at Balweshie School near my house. We went there Wednesday as part of our Developmental Studies class to paint the outside of their school. Unfortunately, the project was slightly hampered by some really crappy attitudes of my peers. Some were complaining about how we were disrupting class and the kids would never be able to pay attention that day (even though they were making the children late to class by playing with them and taking the typical pictures of a wealthy American with small African children..not distracting at all!). Then they also complained to the point where they were considering pretending to be sick just to be able to leave...it was two hours out of their day that we would have otherwise been in class for anyways..and we were helping a school. Maybe I'm just crazy but that doesn't seem like a bad deal. I have heard that some people don't like volunteering here because they believe that it's like they're just here helping the poor black people...once again I don't understand this. We are helping people during these projects who tell us what they want done but don't have enough time or hands to do themselves. I'm not doing it because they are poor black people, I'm doing it just as I would do community service in the U.S. not for people because they are black, white, or orange but because they are people who may be less privileged than I and I have the time or resources to help. It was a bit frustrating but in the end those of us who were working made the best of it and did some good work and had fun.

Apparently, I had more to say than I thought...sorry it's so long and may seem a bit like I'm complaining or ranting.

Thanks to all who have donated to Jessalyn and my Queensland fundraiser! We really appreciate it!!