Author's Note: This is the second part in a series about my time abroad. Take a look at my first week in Africa here.
Adventures Abroad: Part 2
...And so the adventures continue
Day 6: June 18, 2016
This week’s installment starts on Saturday with my trip to Cape Coast! Once upon a time, pre-1957 when Ghana gained their independence from Great Britain (#Brexit57), this beautiful country was called the Gold Coast. Similarly to California earning its nickname as The Golden State partially from the Gold Rush in 1849, Portuguese explorers found so much gold that they named the place Mina, meaning Mine (as in a gold mine), and British explorers later changed this to the Gold Coast. The European explorers built castles and trading ports all along the Ghanaian coast so that they could easily import textiles, alcohol, and manufactured goods while also exporting raw materials, gold, and… well… people.
I decided to make a trip to Cape Coast because one of the castles used for slave trade is right on the beach and I had heard great things about the beachside town. I left at about 7:30 a.m. on a Ford tro tro, one that is air conditioned for the longer rides. I sat in the van for about three hours. About halfway through the ride, my bladder let me know it was reaching full. Thankfully, I made it my mission to distract myself from the need to pee by reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being for the last hour and a half.
If you’ve never heard of this book, it’s a beautifully written novel by Franco-Czech writer Milan Kundera that travels the lives of four people whose lives have been entwined by sexual ventures and the navigation of their lives both physically and philosophically in the Prague Spring of 1968. I would definitely recommend giving it a go, especially if you enjoy philosophical discussion put into context of day-to-day living. I don’t want to share any more about the novel so as not to ruin it for any potential readers.
Once I arrived in Cape Coast, I headed to Baobab House to check in for my stay. Baobab House is a guesthouse, vegetarian/vegan moringa (excited because this is what I work on in Accra!) restaurant, fashion store, beauty supply and trinket shop, and a children’s foundation. It was founded by German women who still run the business but employ local children and teens to give them an idea of business and experience with foreign customers. The children also get help obtaining materials and money for school while having a place to come and study or read and learn, if they do not attend school elsewhere.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t check in until the room was clean, so I decided to take a trip about an hour north via tro tro to Kakum National Park. The park is enormous and if there hadn’t been a fee to walk around in addition to the entrance fee, I would have spent more time there exploring. I came with the intention of doing the canopy walk. This walk ranges from 40-50 meters above the rainforest floor, offering beautiful views over the park.
I was not lucky enough to spot any elephants or monkeys on the walk, but I was incredibly lucky to have met a great group of volunteers during the walk. There were two women and three men who were volunteering at hospitals and orphanages in Cape Coast through Projects Abroad. Two people were from the United States, one from Canada, one from the UK, and one from Nigeria. We completed the walk together, talking about our projects, interests, and goals-- just getting to know one another, really. I learned that a couple of people in the group of friends were afraid of heights, so it didn’t help them that we were walking at the same time as a large group of high school boys who found it hilarious to jump around, dance, and sing on the walk. Mind you, this walk, though completely safe, was no more than thin wooden boards supported by some aluminum rods and ropes. It is understandable why someone might be fearful while walking on it.
I took Karl, my Camp Kesem buddy, with me to the canopy walk and he thought it was beautiful! He really wanted to try the leaves on these rainforest trees.
After the walk, instead of parting ways with the group, we all made our way back to town together. We ate lunch at Baobab House, all appreciating the fact that there was a place that offered vegetarian food. Food items without meat are hard to come by in Ghanaian cuisine. Of course, we talked more during lunch about where we are each from and what motivated us to come to Ghana. One person, Todd* from the UK, will be leaving Ghana for some time and returning with a group to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Hope For Children.
Baobab House is right on the beach near Cape Coast Castle, so we decided to take a sunset walk on the beach and on the rocks surrounding the castle. One young boy with the same name as Todd walked around with us. He, like many other children around, was mainly asking us for money, but I think he also enjoyed spending time with foreigners. He posed for my camera and kept asking me to take his picture for him. I gave him one polaroid that he liked, but here are the other shots I took.
That is one thing I have noticed here. No one is shy. Everyone says hello and welcomes you and wants to interact with you. Though sometimes the interaction is to ask for money, oftentimes people just want to get to know you. There is an innate kindness in the people I’ve met and interacted with in Ghana, whereas the people of other countries are not so quick to approach you. They might look at you strangely because they have identified you as a foreigner, but they will not attempt to speak with you as Ghanaians will.
Young boy Todd was excited to get to know us, so he walked on the beach with us until we decided to cross over the rocks over the water around the castle to get to the fishing boats. The boats are large and wooden and incredibly colorful. Men and children were running between them, transporting materials, sewing nets together, setting up and taking down flags and masts. The boats were absolutely beautiful.
On the shore in front of some of the boats, a group of young men were playing soccer. The six of us decided to ask if we could join them and they, true to Ghanaian nature, welcomed us with smiles and hugs. The women in our group joined the ‘shirts’ and the men joined the ‘skins.’ Now, I am no soccer player. I did not grow up playing soccer nor did I pursue it in my later adolescence, as I had with softball. I did not expect to ever have contact with the ball as I do not have much knowledge of the rules or strategy or skills involved in soccer other than that you cannot use your arms unless you are the goalkeeper. I still wanted to play, however, because when else would I have such an opportunity? I get to be active with new friends on the oceanside in a new country. I could not pass it up.
We played for almost two hours. Constantly running back and forth in the sand, trading out players so that everyone had the opportunity to play, avoiding running into the boats as best we could quickly became tiring. The ball would be kicked far beyond the nets or into the ocean and we would have to chase it down or even play from the waves. I thought I would be returning to my room dry, but there was no way it was happening once I committed to playing the game.
By the time we had decided to leave, the sun was down and the full moon was out. It was a beautiful place to be and I will have the image in my head (and on my computer) forever. The Ghanaians and we played with actually thought I was a soccer player and the new friends I found also thought I played well! I was incredibly surprised, considering my lack of experience in the sport.
Later that night, we went out to Oasis Beach Resort for dancing and hanging out. Two people joined who I hadn’t met yet, both from the US. One was an ex-marine who decided he wants to be a doctor. They met the owner the previous night, so we hung out with him and made other friends that night as well. Later into the night, we made a bonfire and chatted and danced with other locals and people visiting Ghana. We dipped our feet into the ocean, sat in abandoned and broken fishing boats, and tossed a rugby ball. I was especially grateful to have met them after the fun we had at Oasis because I definitely would not have gone out if I hadn’t been with others.
When I finally made it back to Baobab (my new friends walked me back), I immediately fell asleep after all the fun we’d had that day.
Day 7: June 19, 2016
I was lucky to have a room with an amazing view of the ocean and beach. I woke up to the sound of waves crashing, music playing, and people singing. It was Sunday, which meant the streets were quite empty since everyone was at church. This made breakfast and my return journey quieter that it might have been on any other day.
I thought a lot this morning about the friendships I made last night. It’s difficult to call them true friendships because we knew it was fleeting. We knew we wouldn’t likely be seeing one another again anytime soon. We met by chance and, though we exchanged numbers and Facebook addresses, the next time we meet is likely to also be a chance occurrence. But I can’t call them acquaintances because spending even a day with them felt like more than hanging out with coworkers or classmates. I have to go with friendship because I can look back on this day and, though it be but singular, it was one hell of a day with some great that brings a smile to my face to recall. Maybe we will meet again someday. Maybe it will be the same. Maybe it will be completely different. Nevertheless, these people briefly came into my life and impacted it in the best sort of way. I wonder if all fleeting friendships are like this, where you must enjoy it because it is the only opportunity. Have you had a similar experience?
While waiting for my food, I finished my book. I wished that last chapter had gone on forever. I also made conversation with my server, who had been working at Baobab for 5 or so years and has aspirations of traveling to the US or Europe soon. It’s amazing to me. Everywhere I have traveled to, people dream of going to the United States. I love the United States, but I didn’t realize how much of the world saw it as such a grand destination until I left it. We treat our own country so poorly. We treat others in our country so poorly when they want nothing more than a chance to experience this magical place where they are told their hard work will take them further than imaginable in their own country. The American Dream is alive everywhere other than America, it feels like.
Speaking of America, let’s talk about this castle on the beach.
Cape Coast Castle: the main attraction in this city for me. It was one of the first places Ghanaians were held captive until a boat came from Europe to take them to the Americas in triangular trade.
I walked through the castle’s small museum, which provided insight on the history of this castle, European conquests, and slave trade in Ghana. I had a chance to see actual neck, wrist, and ankle shackles used to keep human beings captive as well as the metal branding rods. I stood in the five dungeons that each held 200 men where they lived for three months with merely one small meal daily and bodily fluids rising up to their knees. I stepped inside of the punishment chamber where up to eight women at a time would stay after resisting rape. I stood in the damp, moldy, lightless cell for men who attempted to escape were left without food or water-- no one in that cell lasted for more than 3 days.
For those who survived the horrors faced in the castle, nothing better awaited. The captives were marched through a tunnel from the dungeons to the “Door of No Return.” They had a brief opportunity to breathe fresh air and view sunlight for the first time in months to be once again trapped for three months, but this time on a ship. In the ship, people were stacked horizontally in order to fit hundreds in tiny spaces. If one did not die on the long journey to the Americas, he or she was then put on the market block to be sold as slaves.
My favorite part was the plaque at the end of the tour which read: 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 never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We, the living, vow to uphold this.
Having the opportunity to visit the castle is one I am especially grateful for. It was a charged experience, especially feeling that one of my ancestors somewhere along the road might have been one of those captives. This experience, with the plaque in mind, will stand as a constant reminder to use my freedom to aid others in obtaining and strengthening theirs. Though we, the living, swore no such injustice would befall humankind again, it exists all around us. There are “workers” paid close to nothing for back-breaking labor. There are children doing the same. There are children and adults alike who are trafficked across borders. Some are used for pornography or prostitution against their will or because they have no other means of providing. This will be a constant reminder of the type of humans we should strive to be in order to accomplish the type of humanity we hope to see.
Later this week, I’ll be receiving materials for DIY science and getting real with 3000/12!
*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
