TRIP TO CAPE COAST!!

Had an amazing weekend starting with my trip to the autism center Friday. The children are all non-verbal but so full of life and I am so excited to work with them. I plan to go every Friday since I do not have classes. After a failed attempt to get a bus to cape coast on Friday night, Shane, Katie and I left for Cape Coast from our hostel at 6 am. We got there mid morning and found our way to Sammo’s a place to stay. We had 2 double beds and a bathroom and shower in our room for 20 cedis a night. IT was really nice and the fans were crazy powerful. We started off our day heading to the castle, the main attraction at cape coast. This is the location where the British exported, sold, and killed 4 million Africans in the slave trade. Nothing in history books can compare to walking through the door of no return yourself and recognizing the fact that with the beginning of the slave trade came a society full of racism and hate that is yet to be resolved. It was horrible to see the conditions in which these humans were held. It was reminiscent of the holocaust museum and understanding concentration camps. Except when you go there, it’s the Nazi’s who inflicted this terrible hate. In this case, its our ancestors and the effects are still visible all around me. It was such an interesting persepective to be a white person in this setting. I now know what it is like to be treated differently because of my race since I have been in Ghana, but I am not treated badly. I can not imagine if instead of children shouting “obruni” with smiling faces and outstretched hands there were adults shouting N**** and displaying hate. I am affected each time I hear that shout of Obruni. I am just beginning to understand the results of centuries of racial discrimination in a negative way. It is strange to look around at the community and see church after church. The same people who enslaved and slaughtered a nation came promoting Christianity. In fact the first Church in Ghana was located on top of the Caste, the point of slave exportation. It seems counterintuitive to me that Christianity thrives here when it was brought in with such hate. Despite the horrors that the castle told, it was wonderful to look off into the ocean and have hope for the future. What a difference electing Obama could make in the hope of the African community.
On Sunday we went to a church in Cape Coast. I don’t think I understood a single word. The language switched constantly and the music followed a pattern I could not seem to catch. The enthusiasm was fun to see, but I was tired after the 2 and half hour service haha! We left church and headed to Elmina, the site of another castle. We were warned by our travel book that our arrival would be met with a bombardment of beggars wanting money, our names ect. We made it into the castle and completed the tour. The history was interesting, and the conditions seemed to be slightly better here than at Cape Coast. After a long walk, we caught a cab to the STC station to meet up with Dr. Amadhe and his wife. The took us to Hans Cottage, which was a place I was hoping to get to see anyway. This is a restaurant located at a lake full of crocodiles. So cool. We could see several large ones setting out that almost didn’t look real when we first arrived. We had a fun lunch discussing Kpoeta and our trip to the health care center amongst other pleasantries. After lunch Dr. Amadhe asked us if we wanted to go for a paddle boat ride and we decided it would be fun. So we got in, with Katie and I peddling. Things were going great until all of a sudden we were stuck. Apparently some underwater plant things had gotten us stuck. So there we were in the middle of the crocodile lake completely unable to move. Soon everyone in the restaurant was out of there seats enjoying the entertainment of 3 obrunis stuck in the water. The best part was when the waitress got in a paddle boat and came to save us. It was absolutely amazing. After many tries to bump us over the plants, we decided to get into her boat so the boat wouldn’t be weighed down. Then we pulled it off the plants and she got in our boat. All in all it was an awesome experience. Then we got some ice cream which was a perfect end to the event. Then Dr. Amadhe took us to his house which was really cool and then back to our hotel. After a nap and some reading we got dinner upstairs which turned out to be really delicious and really cheap. It was really loud at night but we managed to get some sleep. We woke up to pouring rain, but deside to head to Kankum park anyway. We went on a canopy walk above the rainforest which was pretty cool and then a nature walk with our guide Fred, who was hilarious. We eventually made it back to our hotel and we were exhausted. I wasn’t feeling so good. I ended up sleeping on and off from 2 until 6 am the next day. It was ridiculous. Today we just woke up and read on the beach and then got lunch upstairs. I had delicious pasta salad. Then we got the bus back to accra, and then suffered through an hour tro tro ride back to legon. Its good to be home. Strange that we will only be here 3 days!!