A Day to Cape Coast

On Saturday we left early (6am) to journey down to Cape Coast to see the castles where slaves were kept before they were transported to the West. To prepare us for the trip, Andrew had been showing us TV shows such as Roots and documentaries such as 500 years later which helped with the experience.

First we stopped off in this petrol station and met our Cape Coast Guide, a very lovely lady, it was a pity about her son, who initially behaved as all children should (seen and not heard), then mysteries of all mysteries, he started talking… why??? I am still asking myself the very question. Anyway after we did that we hiked up this semi-mountain to these bridges that were basically ladders, suspended in the air (40m up) tied to some trees…. We had to cross 7 of them and it was really scary. This boy who is with us starts screaming saying he is too young to meet God…. We were all terrified but its like, dude.

After the walk we went to Hans Hotel – a hotel that has random crocodiles wandering about. It was way cool, almost everybody in the group got a picture with the tame croc, Sanjay… that's not actually its name but I like it. Then we went to the castles. Frist off was Elmina (or St. Georges) which was very informative. I learnt a lot about what parts of the buildings the Dutch, British and Portuguese built and sort of about the slaves – not so much their conditions, more just where they stayed. It was in Cape Coast Castle where I truly found out what the Slaves went through. There was the room which the guide took us too that had white lines going up all around the walls about 60ishcm up, where some people had excavated the room. Turns out that was how deep the vomit, blood, poo and urine was. What made it worse was they had to eat off that…. That is disgust, how people could treat other people like that truly boggles my mind… I just don't understand. We then found out they had only excavated one room. That meant that we were walking on our forefathers' blood, sweat, vomit etc…. In Cape Coast Castle, the guide also showed us the room where soldiers would keep the women who refused to be raped. It was a small room with only a hole in the ground for a loo; they didn't get food or water either. Those women were locked in that room for 8-10 days and then let out. They did that so that the next time soldiers wanted to rape them they would oblige.

After the castle tours we ventured to a beach, taking in the beautiful surroundings. That's when it hit me; I was in Ghana, on a beach, watching the sun set….. It was cool. And do you know what ruined that for me? That blasted kid, freaking out about some crab that someone threw at him. He jumped up, slipped and as he slipped, grabbed my shirt and was screaming. I am against child abuse, but in that moment I wanted to hit that kid!! Why did he grab me???? It really frustrated me but other than that it was actually a really god, informative day :D