This is a "stock photo" but this is the Coconut Beach Resort in Cape Coast Ghana. We arrived a little after dinner time to this beautiful beach town.We all jumped from our seats on the bus to catch a look at the dark horizon with the accents of white crests crashing against African soil.Our faces brightened and our souls rejoiced- The Beach!
Our resort is a perfect setting-coconut trees GALORE all gently leaning toward the roaring Atlantic as if they were pointing at something they were just dying for us to see. I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am to have the opportunity, this gift of worldview and perspective. Its like nothing I ever dreamed of.
They purposely give us an incredible background like this to learn about the darkest part of Africa's History, England's History, America's History...this world's history. We arrived at the
Cape Coast Castle on the 27th...
I can barely begin to describe this surreal experience. We were in the "castles" which held millions of slaves who were in completely inhumane conditions only to eventually be led to a life of misery, abuse, humiliation, and eventual destruction of their human spirit.
I was in this holding hell. No matter how hot, hungry, tired, sick to my stomach I felt, it all paled in comparison to the stories of the souls who previously inhabited the moldy, empty rooms.
This was the the General had as he would have he soldiers bring out the women into the square. He would then choose which one to rape that night. Right outside of the door on the ground there are two dark circles in the stones, that is where they would drop heavy objects/cannonballs unto the slaves...We went into a room that I had to practically crawl into; a room buried behind three completely sealed doors used for the most aggressive and stubborn enslaved Africans (or in my opinion, the freedom fighters, heroes, those that knew that they were just as human as those who were trying to sell them and refused to let their spirit be bought). They would be thrown in there for 48 or 72 hours, doors completely sealed, no food, no light, no air...they were put in there to die. I stood in that room, the hair standing on the back of my neck, the guide closed the doors and in an instant I felt .00045% of what this experience must have been like for Africans ripped from their lives and communities sometimes by men who looked just like them and who lived among then, other times by men who looked more like me, or my dad or your dad...taken to a future not their own, to live a life that no one could have lived through.
This was the door to the cell for the slaves in the Elmina Castle. It creates a different vibe from the one below meant for the European soldiers/employees who were misbehaving.
We discussed our experience at the castle, talking about the strength needed to fight that fight...to be enslaved, to survive it, to go on and have children and grand children and great grand children who now sit in classrooms with me, getting their masters, saving the world. What strength it took to keep going. Do we have that? Is that in us, now?
I am so curious about how this all ever begun. We read some interesting articles about slavery that was already existing in Africa (Africans "enslaving" other Africans, although this image certainly does not paint the whole picture...) and how it was usually that you would give your time and labor for debts that you owed or because of crimes that you committed. Never did the "slavery" come close to the despicable acts occurring in the Caribbean, the American South...all over. When the elders of villages sold young men and women to the white merchants, they had no clue that they would have been thrown into dungeons, raped, humiliated, starved, transported into a floating coffin to their destiny abroad where many would die or have their human spirit murdered. This is so important for people to know... and I am burning to know about the psyche of the people who did this. I know slavery of all kinds is still going on today-where does it start? It must be something so small that just spirals in a deadly direction.
The most difficult part of this experiences is that now we are left with the "so what?" So what do we do now that we know this, now that we have seen what slavery has done to generations worth of people.
I don't know that the answer will ever come to consiousness, but perhaps through action we will get closer to doing the next right thing.
I encourage you to educate yourself about what happened on the Coast:
Wikipedia
GhanaWeb
The Ever Grateful and Forever Questioning Traveler...
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