My weekend trip to Cape Coast made me realize that going to NYU means that I am officially ballin’. Despite deeply rooted resentment against the university for past injustices, when they deicide to plan something nice, they really go all out. It was so nice to be spoiled by a five-star hotel, hot water, and swimming pool. Aaah. As a program, we traveled three hours to the coastal town of Cape Coast, which used to be the central hub of West African slave trade. There seem to be relatively few tourist attractions in this country, so seeing the slave castles and crumbling European structures served as a reminder of how profound the history of Ghana actually is.
Walking into the whitewashed slave castle at Elmina, my attitude was almost immediately tuned to pensive guilt. Walking through there as a white person, you are really a dog with your tail between their legs. It’s such an uncomfortable feeling to have guilt over something that you didn’t actually do! But all of us, coming from such different backgrounds, proceeded through the whole thing like a kind of funeral march. One of the most horrifying things for me was walking into the female slave dungeon and still being able to smell the feces, urine, and menstrual blood that the some 300 women were forced to live in for up to 3 months. I never really realized just how jaded we’ve become about slavery. Like it’s something that hasn’t left a nasty residue on our society. Being able to go to the origin of this holocaust on humanity was definitely a much-needed reminder.
One of the strangest things about the castle is that regardless of its dark past, it still serves as the center of town. This is a terrible comparison but picture a Jewish community built around Auschwitz. People live in the crumbling European buildings that used to house slave traders. The fisherman have their boats docked up against the same shore that their ancestor’s were hauled off of in shackles. It just seems symbolically sinister.
After the intensity of the slave castle, we went to Kakum national park where the Ghana’s most lush rainforest is. The coolest thing ever! We did a canopy walk, which is basically a rickety system of wooden bridges, several hundred feet above the ground and all held together by ropes connected to the trees. Terrifying! The weekend trip was especially cool because it really brought to light what an amazing group of students we have here. We all have such great chemistry and positivity flowing! How much do I love this country?
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