cape coast - elmina castle

We left Kumasi on Wednesday morning and headed 3 hours south to Cape Coast. It was nice to be one step closer to home, but it was a little sad to leave Kumasi. We'd be leaving the community, the artisans and Betty, our Habitat for Humanity liaison / project manager. She was awesome. With all its quirks (my safe was still in pieces when we left), the had become our home away from home with a very nice swimming pool.

In Elmina , we stayed on the ocean at the Coconut Grove Hotel. Elmina is the African mispronunciation of the Portugese word "la mina", meaning "the mines". The setting was beautiful, but the humidity was fierce! You sweat as soon as you walked out of your hotel room b/c of the 90% humidity. The hotel itself may have been grand at one time, but has seen better days. Two people found lizards in their showers and someone even found lizard poop in their bed.

Elmina is a fishing community. The main route in/out of town separates the Atlantic Ocean from the fishing villages. The men are responsible for fishing, the women are responsible for prepping the fish, smoking them and selling them at the market. The fish are smoked on open ovens. They sell both smoked and fresh fish. The huts you see along the road use palm leaves for the roofs and are more temporary. These are their "workshops". The fisherman live in houses farther inland.

The Portugese built Elmina Castle in 1482 as a trade center for ivory, gold and later slaves. It was captured by the Dutch in 1637 and later sold to the English in 1872. The English used it as a training facility. Slavery existed in Africa, but it was different from what we've learned in our history books. The losing side of feuding tribes became the slaves of the victors. However, slaves could marry, own land and vote. If a slave married in to the opposing tribe he or she was considered free as were his/her offspring. Thus, many African royalty today can trace their lineage back to slaves.

Needless to say it was a sad place. The slave dungeons (men and women separated), the cells for and the church were all on the first level. Officer quarters were on the 2nd and 3rd level and the Governor was on the 4th level. There are two cells - one for slaves who tried to rebel and the other for European soldiers who were being disciplined. There is a marked difference. The European cell is small but with adequate ventilation. The other cell, adorned with a skull and crossbones, was dark, small and with minimal ventilation.

It was stifling hot and any open windows with bars were actually doors. The quarters were cramped, claustrophobic. The doorway to the awaiting ships was just wide enough for one person my size to fit thru and I even turned to the side. It's amazing anyone survived.

The guide explained that it is now our responsibility to remember what happened at Elmina Castle and be an active participant in preventing such injustice against humanity in the future.