GHANA!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Today we arrived in Takoradi, Ghana at 0800. SO happy to end our 9 days straight at sea!

First on the agenda was a visit to the castles and slave dungeons of Cape Coast and Elmina.

We arrived at Elmina first.

The Portuguese first came to Elmina in 1471. The name Elmina is derived from a word meaning “The Coast of Gold Mines.” The city of Elmina sat at the heart of the West African Gold trade at one time. The castle itself has two names St. George castle and Elmina Castle.

I was confused at first as to why the building was referred to as a “castle.” The curator, George, explained that the building itself was originally built to trade goods. It wasn’t until the Dutch took over in 1637 that the store rooms of St. George castle were converted into slave dungeons.

Over 400 women could be held in the women’s slave dungeons at one time. They stayed at Elmina for 1,2, or 3 months. Conditions were terrible. The women were only provided with enough food to sustain them. They wanted them to be so weak that there was no chance they could fight back. Many died just waiting for the boats to arrive.

George showed us a cannon ball located in the middle of the courtyard between the dungeons. If a woman “misbehaved” she was strapped to the cannon ball in the middle of the blazing sun for hours at a time.

The governor of the castles would look down into the courtyard and choose women to rape. They were escorted up a trap door into the governors quarters (which were triple the size of the dungeons themselves.) 

George then showed us “the gate of no return.” The gate was intentionally built narrow so that slaves didn’t have room to resist or fight back. Slaves were escorted out this small gate to awaiting boats and never returned again. 

We then visited Cape Coast. Cape Coast’s economy was dominated by its role at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade throughout the 18^th century. Much larger in size than Elmina castle, the Cape Coast Castle held 1,500 captured individuals at a time. 1,500 is about the size of my high school.

Upon beginning our tour of the Cape Coast Castle our guide told us that he hoped the Cape Coast Castle remained standing forever. Many people have petitioned for its destruction hoping to forget the atrocities of the slave trade. He said that it was not good to completely erase reminders of a painful past. We need to forgive, but never forget.

At the entrance to the Cape Coast dungeons is a plaque which was presented by the Ghanaian chiefs at a reconciliation conference in 1998.

The plaque reads-

“In everlasting memory of the anguish of our ancestors

may those who died rest in peace

may those who return find their roots

may humanity again never perpetrate

such injustice against humanity

we. the living. Vow to uphold this.“ 

There is a similar plaque at the entrance to Elmina castle. I found it very profound that the Ghanaian chiefs took responsibility for their part in the slave trade. Instead of passing all of the blame to the outside forces that invaded Ghana, the Ghanaian chiefs took their part of the blame and apologized.

We passed the stone and walked into the male slave dungeons. 

The eerie feeling in the bottom of the dungeons cannot be explained with words. There was no light and no one spoke. 

It was in the bottom of the pitch black slave dungeons at Cape Coast Castle that I was suddenly overwhelmed by the connection between the place I was standing and the Charleston market.

Growing up in South Carolina, I visited Charleston, SC and it’s famous slave market many times. I remember walking through the market buying jewelry and candy. I own a t-shirt that I purchased in the market many years ago. The same market the conjures pleasant childhood memories for me is the exact market that was a living hell for many people not too long ago.

Our guide told us that when the dungeons were cleaned many years after the end of the slave trade, 24 inches of waste were removed from the floor of the dungeons.

60 million Africans were taken captive. 12 million made the middle passage.

The massiveness of the slave trade is appalling.

To me, the slave trade highlights an ultimate evil- Man’s greed for money, power, and control. Chiefs betrayed their own people for money. Christian nations purchased slaves as property; something to be owned and exploited. It is scary to think that there were probably many people who didn’t think they were doing anything wrong. It is terrifying.

The sad thing to me is that there are many other forms of slavery still taking place all over the world. Just on this voyage we have learned of the child soldiers in Uganda and the enslavement of the Nepali school girls.  The wickedness of slavery did not end when slavery was abolished in the United States.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Today I was supposed to be on a trip at 7:00am. At 7:02am my friend Katie starts banging on my door. She had been waiting on the bus and when 7:00am hit she realized I had probably overslept. For those of you not familiar was SAS trips. They aren’t joking around. The bus will leave you when you are late. She told the trip leader that she forgot something (me) and sprinted back onto the boat. What a dear!! I awoke and looked at my alarm clock, brushed my teeth and sprinted to the gangway. The bus didn’t leave me! WHEW! Close call! I blame it on the super bowl.

We headed three hours away to a rural village to work with Habitat for Humanity. My only job the whole day was to carry water from a barrel to help mix cement. Access to water is very limited in Ghana, making the process of building a house very slow. We worked with some Ghanaian men who laughed at us for commenting on the heat and did not stop working once to take a break. When we stopped for lunch, they didn’t. They worked so so hard and let me tell you the work was no cinch. My back was actually sore for two days from carrying the water back and forth.

We spent the next few days exploring the city of Takoradi. We spent a day and one night at Axim beach which was a wonderful way to bond with some of the SAS kids. Not too much to report.

One piece of advice if you ever travel to Africa. Don’t tell anyone your name. DEFIANTLY don’t write you name down on a piece of paper. 10 minutes later that same kid that you thought wanted to just be friends will walk up to you with a woven bracelet with your name on it. You will then be guilted into paying wayyyyy too much money for it.

Many SASers returned to the boat with bracelets.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Today was our last day in Ghana. I woke up for an early FDP for women’s health and childbirth practices in Ghana. We traveled to the Cape Coast Regional Hospital.

The OBGYN Doctor Evans Ekanem greeted us and took us for a tour. The hospital we visited was a government run hospital that was considered to be one of the best in the region. It was an example for other hospitals… It was in very poor condition.

Here are some notes that I took from our visit to the hospital… I apologize for the randomness.

-Epidurals are not provided to women giving birth because they are too expensive.

-The average life expectancy for Ghanaians is 60.

-Abortions are not technically illegal or legal. The government turns a blind eye. If an accredited doctor performs an abortion it is okay.

-Many children born with mental illnesses die. They do not have the resources to care for them.  

- Many women in Ghana do not care to attend family planning centers (which are provided by the government) because they are concerned they will be perceived by their communities as promiscuous. –lack of education

- Some women also believe that if their child is mentally ill they have done something to upset a goddess and they are being punished. –lack of education.

One thing I have learned on this voyage is the value of education in terms of developing countries. Education is vital to the improvement of developing countries in so many areas- including health. I have so much respect for my sisters who are both in the field of education. It is so so important. GO SK AND TY!

Random thoughts on Ghana-

Smells- Ghana reminded me of Haiti in regard to the variety of smells. Unique to the west of Ghana is the export of coco. One word to describe the smell of coco- potent. I still am not sure if it was a good smell or a bad smell… (maybe a little of both), but the smell of coco is strong and powerful! 

According to our tour guide- “the best come from the west.”

One of my favorite things about driving around in Ghana is reading all of the signs for businesses. A few examples I noted:

“Lord Most High Beauty Salon”

“Showers of Blessing Food Market”

“In His Time Car Repairs”

hilarious.

I love the uniforms that the beautiful children wear. All of the different color combinations- yellow, light blue, navy, green. I love the way the big white smiles of the children contrasts against their dark skin.

The people of Ghana are so proud of how far they have come. Our taxi driver, Bob, confidently turns to me and asks me what I think of Ghana. I am so caught off guard all I can say is that it is wonderful. He nods his head and smiles because he is so proud of his country.

I wasn’t honest with Bob. I looked around and saw intense poverty. I saw children with no shoes. I saw women laying in filthy hospital beds with their new born babies unprotected from the filth. Some say ignorance is bliss.. and to a certain point I would say I agree… Many Ghanian people are happy and content.

In America we have something called the “American Dream.” Kids are asked their entire lives what they want to be when they grow up. I have never doubted that I could be anything that I wanted to be. We asked our tour guide on the way back from the hospital if Ghana had anything similar to the “American Dream”. He sadly shook his head no. He said that they try to encourage such things, but it is so hard because of what they face. We are so fortunate in America for so many things beyond just basic necessities. Not only do we have hope, we have the American Dream. We have the possibilities and opportunities that are so foreign to some places that they don’t even dare to dream.   

Ghana is a country plagued by poverty. What is the best way to help? At what point does our helping become harmful? As I mentioned earlier, many Ghanaians are SO happy. They live their lives content in their villages. Attempting to “modernize” or “improve” their way of life with our way is not always the best option. Our way is not always the right way. I feel as if the best way to help developing countries such as Ghana is to help provide drinking water and other basic needs. Many illnesses and deaths result from simply lacking access to clean drinking water.

I am thankful for my time in Ghana. I hope I don’t forget a moment of it. I learned so much.