Closing out Cape Coast and onward to Kumasi

7/16/17

(Due to user error my photos from these three days were deleted. Fortuently, there are a number of photographers on the trip and I was able to steal a few of their shots. All photos on this post were taken by Adrienne Peng). 

(Adrienne's photo of me, Leonna and Claire during the treetop walk)

This morning we had a short run to the gym. It felt good to really stretch the legs out and move. The exercise classes this week have not been very rigorous— or even much work sometimes. However, it’s still a good way to start the day. After the gym some of the students went to a local non-denominational church service. It was a ruckus good time— and the sermon seemed to resonate with a number of students. The preacher’s thesis was find your purpose and you will find peace. If you can find your purpose, an occupation that means something to you, God will provide the means to live a good life.  

We had a fair amount of free time around lunch which I used to write, edit photos and prepare for the upcoming week. At 2:00 we departed for Elmina Castle— formerly known as St. John’s Castle— another of the infamous slave castles. The original purpose of the castle was as a trading base so the rooms that the captives lived were built as storage cellars. With both Cape Coast and Elmina their were multiple churches— each one built as new owners took ownership from a Protestant to Catholic or the Church of England. In Cape Coast they were built on top of the slave quarters— heaven above and hell below. In Elmina that Female Salve Quarters were near the Governor’s Quarters. There was an open courtyard surrounded by a walk way where the Governor could look down to pick out whom he would rape that evening. At both castles we walked from the dungeons along dark hallways until we came to the door of no return. These door opened out onto the shoreline where smaller boats would take the captives onto the middle passage.

Center Building is an old Church inside the castle

The wall here was built in the 1900's for police and military training. The two doors to the right are cells. The door with the skull was for condemned captives, those who resisted or caused trouble. The door on the far right was a room for misbehaving soldiers.

What has stood out to me most about these castles is not the grim fact that for hundreds of years these were bastions of evil, stripping humans of their freedom, but that after the abolition of slavery these buildings continued to be power conductors. The castle had two, fairly large rooms for two royal prisoners, a tribal King and a warrior Queen who had both, separately, fought against the colonizing powers. Elmina also served as a training post for local colonial troops— some of which fought in World War Two in Burma and near Singapore. After the war the castle was used as a police training facility and barracks until in the 1960’s the castle was recognized as a world heritage site. 

Climbing the police training wall

After another tasty dinner at the New Life restaurant (the vegetarian spot) we headed back to campus for Jessie’s lecture on Intellectual and Spiritual Wellness.

7/17/17

Today we depart of Kumasi, approximately six hours north of Cape Coast. Before our departure we spent the morning at Aboom school for special needs. When we arrived we were greeted by smiling children holding signs that said “Welcome to Aboom School for Special Needs.”  Before hearing a brief history of the school, the students sang a song of welcome— they sang with gusto and grins. We had a brief tour of the four different class rooms; pre-school, vocational, speech and language and a cerebral palsy. Many of the students are talented seamsters making colorful bags and others make brightly colored bracelets. After the tour we spent an hour making bracelets and playing with the children outside. It was a refreshing morning full of laughter.

Our final meal in Cape Coast was at my favorite restaurant thus far— the vegetarian New Life Cafe. Then we swung by a grocery store for our six hour trek north. The bus sped along, swaying as it picked up speed with little regard for lanes. At times I felt like I was Harry Potter riding the Knight Bus for the first time. On this drive, for the first time we left behind urban sprawl for green trees, mountain valleys and empty jungle… before being thrust back into the thick Kumasi crowds. We arrived to the Engineering Guest House at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) in a downpour. It was the first sign of constant rain we’ve seen since we arrived. We had a quick dinner, and then called it a night after an exhausting day of traveling.

7/18/17

Our first day in any city has followed a predictable pattern, greetings by our local university with a brief history of that university, lunch and a tour of the local area- either a hospital or the university itself. This time this pattern was interrupted by a quick tour of the Ghana Military Museum— and then we proceeded to the usual greetings and tour of a medical facility. These of quickly become somewhat routine and while each hospital has slightly different waiting rooms, these intro days are a bit of a drag for me. 

The Military Museum was fascinating and frustrating. Learning about the various ways that Ghana has contributed to the world militarily was really interesting. The Museum was in the former Fort— and only “castle” built inland of the gold coast. As such it was a hub of colonial abuse. We spent a minute in one of the condemned cells. A space no larger than most closets with a stone pillar in the center to force those in the cell to stand or seat until they died. The cell fit 10 of us standing upright, shoulder to shoulder.  After our brief stint in the cell, we learned about Ghanian contributions in various African campaigns during World War 1 and 2 — their role in Burma against the Japanese and against the Italians in eastern Africa. We also talked a bit about their role as UN Peace Keepers across the globe from Rwanda to Kosovo and Afghanistan. Through this history I was disappointed in the way the museum displayed and casually handled the artifacts. As a lover of history, I want to see the stories and ensure that future generations will be able to appreciate those stories.

We had lunch at a bizarre restaurant that claimed to serve a variety of foods but only seemed to do Chinese Food well. I had a tasty meal of cooked vegetables and limp greens with some sort of sauce. It was not the traditional vegetable sauce found at many other restaurants which was surprising but still tasty. Luckily, my Pear Alvaro was refreshing in the cramped space.

This evening we have a small group meeting over dinner before our large group debrief with Dr. Johnson. Many of the students reflected on their behaviors over the past week— thinking about how they are interacting with the culture and recognizing moments of personal growth. It was a good moment.