Cape Coast Castle

7/14/2017

Friday started with the usual crew heading to the morning workouts. We’ve been winnowed down to six or seven— usually two of the TA’s and four or five students. After breakfast we headed to the International Center at UCC for a lecture on Public Health. We then went on a brief tour of UCC’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. After a short drive to the Cape Coast Castle we had lunch at “Castle Restaurant” overlooking a sandy beach bordered by a clay-red rock splashed with bright green seaweed. The waves crashed with ferocious intensity, white foam seething onto the rocks. After crashing onto the rocks the waves slide back into the water and careen into the oncoming waves throwing foam into the air. 

Dr. Johnson takes a photo while on the tour of the Nursing School.

The backlash of the waves was awesome to behold.

Before our tour of the Cape Coast Castle we meandered through narrow streets, dodging venders, cars and  pedestrians in search of fabric. A few of the students wanted to order more clothing and needed more of the brightly colored fabrics to do so. It was nice to explore the city streets after two hours of sitting and eating at the restaurant. 

One of the side streets on our walk. The Green building is a school that had just dismissed.

Two school children picked me out and asked me to take their photo

Our Tour of the Cape Coast Castle was excellent, thoughtful and for many of the students a confrontation of their historical privilege. While there have been many times throughout the trip that students have witnessed poverty or expressed their gratitude for the opportunities they have while on this journey, when you stand in looming blackness, buffeted by the oppressive, stank stillness, the echoes of history surrounding you in the dungeons where thousands have lost their lives— you are forced to reflect on the journey of mankind. It has been scarred and is still at risk as countless individuals are enslaved in the 21st century; human trafficking is still an issue hundreds of years after the abolition of the slave trade.

This was one of the few rooms where there was enough light to take a photo. The round shapes are portraits of the fallen.

View from the castle walls looking out into the Gulf New Guinea

Our dinner at One Africa, a compound on the water was beautiful. We were supposed to also have a discussion with an Ex-Patriot American who was going to share what he had left the US and settled in Ghana. However, he had recently been crowned as a king of one of the local tribes and he wasn’t interested in sharing that story of his past. In stead he regaled us with his version of why we are enslaved— some of which was more sensational internet theory than fact. However, it challenged the students to articulate questions about his views and it pushed them to refine their points of view.