Cape Coast--the castle and old friends

We left Accra the next day and drove down the shoreline to Cape Coast, where our original Mission Home and Mission President live. We had never seen the infamous Cape Coast castle. It is reputed to have been one of the largest slave-holding sites in the world during the colonial era, where Ghanaians--many of them traded to the British by the Ashantis in return for alcohol and guns--were stored before being cramped into returning merchant ships and deported to a life of captive labor.

Sited on the edge of town overlooking a rocky stretch of coast with crashing waves, this whitewashed building is far more attractive than you feel a place with its history ought to be. But once below ground, in the claustrophobic dungeons which saw tens of thousands of Ghanaians incarcerated during the peak of that barbaric era, it is a grim and sobering place indeed. It is the time you spend in these slave dungeons that cuts most closely, their stone walls still marked by the desperate scratching of those imprisoned within them. There are three dungeons in total, all grim and efficient in design. The oldest was built before 1790 and was followed in 1792 by the male dungeon. The female dungeon is on the eastern wall, near the exit to the sea that bore the grim nickname "Door of No Return". A few years ago, a symbolic invitation was issued to two descendants of slaves that saw them return through the Door of No Return, effectively breaking the chain. There is now a sign on the other side, that says "Door of Return".

SIDENOTE: The atmosphere and aura within its walls, remided me of the same feelings I had while visiting Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. The human suffering that you feel within the walls of such places is almost more than one can bear.

We then drove up the hill to the Cape Coast Mission home where we reunited with President and Sister Shulz and the Asays. It was so good to be with old friends. We spent a delightful evening, had a wonderful dinner, reminisced, laughed and played games...It was GREAT!

TOMORROW: KAKUM NATIONAL PARK AND THE CANOPY WALK