CIEE trip numero dos

View from the beach huts

Marketplace for buying/selling slaves

 The other weekend I FINALLY escaped my malaria cave just in time to travel with CIEE to the central region. After about three and a half hours of driving we pulled into a ridiculously nice beach where we were each welcomed with a coconut. Placed on the beach were our rooms - small collections of huts settled in the sand beneath the shade of massive palm leaves and just yards away from the Atlantic waves. After setting our stuff down and having lunch, we made our way to Slave river, the place where slaves of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade took their last bath after being sold on a wooden block in exchange for weapons and animals. From here many of the slaves were taken to Elmina – a giant castle placed just off the shore of Cape Coast. We learned the history of the castle and were told how many slaves populated each room, what their living conditions were like, and how many of them actually survived long enough to make their way onto the boat.

Visiting the Last Bath and Elmina were both complicated experiences. No matter how much I have learned in school, how much reading I have done on my own, or how many facts I receive from a tour guide – I will never be able to understand the full weight of slavery. Throughout the day I remained quiet, struggling and searching for a way to feel the history of where I was standing. I felt it most when the tour guide led us into the female dungeon and told us that the floor we were standing on was the original cement that women had been raped, starved, and had died on. This dungeon was placed directly below the floorboards of the soldiers’ church where they would pray and worship everyday as innocent lives crumbled beneath them.  This only begins to expose the cruelty of those in charge of the trade.

View from Elmina Castle (Cape Coast)

Even more difficult to understand was how a place so torturous, so dark and shameful could be set in such a beautiful place. From the balcony of the castle was a view of perfectly blue water whose waves were only interrupted by the colorful fishing boats that sailed across them. What I learned later on in the night from Gideon (Ghanaian U-PAL) is that this gorgeous view is what makes Elmina a popular place for Ghanaians to take their dates. When we asked how such a depressing place could ever be a romantic destination he said it was because the education that Ghanaians receive on Elmina in school gives them a different understanding of slavery. For Americans, slavery is a horrific part of our history that has caused discrimination and conflict for generations – Elmina was just the beginning, the first step in carrying over our dreaded past. In contrast, Ghanaian curriculum doesn’t include what came after the ships left Elmina – without individual research there isn’t knowledge of slavery in the U.S or plantation life… for them everything ended once the boats left the dock. This shocked me. Ghanaians are always eager to hear about what discrimination is like in the U.S because in Ghana there isn’t a negative divide between black and white. Is it this difference in curriculum that has made Ghanaians so curious about America’s history and present?

The ride back to the beach was a quiet one – most of us trying to process everything we’d seen. All I could think about was how the majority of people would find Elmina horrific enough to do anything in their power to prevent another slave trade from happening… but then images of child labor and sex trafficking came to mind and again I felt hopeless. How can a practice as worldwide and systematic as sex trafficking truly be stopped? And how long will it take before the world feels as much remorse for it as it does the Trans-Atlantic slave trade?After dinner and conversation on modern day slavery etc, we made our way back to our huts and fell asleep to the sound of the crashing waves. 

Rachel and Komal walking the beach

The next morning I woke up around 4am to watch the sunrise over the water. When I came outside everything was dark but the stars were perfect. The lights in Accra blur out most of the stars so I am always grateful to be in a place where they are completely clear. Around 5 the light started to pick up around the water and at 6:02 a perfectly pink sun broke through the horizon, cascading warm light and shadows across the entire beach. Perfect way to start the morning.

After breakfast we headed to Kakum National Park and hiked for about thirty minutes up to a platform that marked the entrance to a series of roped bridges across the canopy of the rainforest. After all the heaviness of the day before, taking a step out onto the bridge and drifting over the forest was so uplifting. I can’t think of a better time to think things over than when standing on a questionably sturdy bridge in the middle of nowhere. I felt weightless – completely suspended in the middle of nature.

After a few hours of canopy walking and hiking we made our way back down the mountain for lunch at a place surrounded by palm trees and crocodiles (Nick Walsh paradise?). Lunch was delicious but the best part was definitely being able to actually go up to the crocodiles and touch them. Crouching down next to a very awake crocodile was bizarre but petting them was soooo cool. Their spines are sharp and rock solid but their stomachs are soft and warm and I could actually feel it breathing, amazing! 

After two days of adventures we returned to campus and instead of heading to bed as planned, a few of us went to our Ghanaian friend’s (Taste) birthday party at a local pub where he watches soccer religiously. Usually the pub is full of chairs and yelling Ghanaians but this time a huge table with champagne glasses, food, and drinks was set outside the pub with Taste’s friends all around. I’m still amazed by how friendly this culture is – we were introduced to everyone at the party, given free food and drinks and were made to feel so, so welcome. Eventually the dinner turned into a dance party and once again I was laughed at for all of my moves. I did have a few Ghanaians doing the sprinkler at one point so I count that one as a major success. Time for class!