A Suggestion in Hindsight

So...

Back in the US, I must make a confession.

We only had wi-fi in Accra while we were in Ghana, so this blog isn't the traditional blog in that sense: I kept a journal during the entirety of our trip, and that was the content for this blog, which I've made upon arrival back to the States.

Nevertheless, the dates and locations are all accurate from my entries. I personally feel that two of my entries capture the essence of the trip:

• Day 14: Reminiscing in Accra
• Day 8: Calm in Kumasi

These relate to the two major themes of the trip that I profoundly felt, so if you only have time to read a bit, read those two :)

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!

Padma

Day 16: Day of Farewells

Driving back from dinner last night, listening to music and looking out the window of the bus as the streets of Accra, I felt sad to leave today. I'm not one to get homesick a lot, but I have on this trip. So I'm glad to go back, but I'll miss Ghana for sure.

Yesterday and today we've gone for morning jogs before breakfast. Again, just four of us from our trip, but its so interesting to see the city during the morning rush hour. This morning, I saw a tiger! Some pick-up truck was transporting it, and it was caged in pacing back and forth. It was a nice sight that made me do a double take :)

Today after lunch, we packaged all the extra food we had left over at the restaurant. A couple friends and I walked around the Center which planned our trip (we're staying here for the afternoon, since we checked out of the hotel and our flight is only at night) and found moms to hand the boxes too. It was nice to walk around one last time before leaving.  I'll miss the vegetation and humid, hot weather, no doubt.

The four of us who walked around were talking and reflecting on the trip. Honestly, its been a different experience for everyone, since we are all from different backgrounds and mindsets. But one thing I think that is common is that we've not only learned so much about the Slave Trade and modern West African society, as the trip had planned, but we've learned so much about ourselves personally. I've realized things about myself that will make me view the world differently, and there are habits I've picked up here which I'd like to maintain no matter where I go.

These two weeks have been a blast.

Medasi,

Padma

Day 14: Reminiscing in Accra

The past two days have been busy, yet not. We've been hitting Slave Camps, Baths, and other sites throughout the trip but we finally saw Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle before returning to Accra. It was on these two trips that the gravity of what we've been studying and preparing for finally hit me.

Let me start with the Slave Camp we saw up North, near the border. Pikwara Slave Camp was a site where the Slavetraders kept slaves to be brought upon capture and sold when the time came. It was a rocky area at the foot of a mountain range, and what we saw was unbelievable. A lot of what we saw did not hit me, honestly, until we viewed the Slave Castles while in Cape Coast, but I'll explain.
There were different areas we saw in the camp. The "food" area was on a large boulder, and there were smooth, oval, shallow holes carved into the side of the rock. Our guide said that slaves were made to carve those holes and then eat from them. We saw a "buying" area where the slaves were actually sold and bought, and changed hands on their way from their native lands to the coast. There was a "punishment" area where rebellious slaves were chained to rocks under the scorching sun and sometimes whipped as an example to other slaves. And then there was a crass cemetery area where they were crudely buried.

We visited another Slave Market in the notorious city of Salaga, where wells still existed in which the slaves were bathed. Today it is a lush, green, forested area away from the city, but the heart of the city is still around the previously huge, rich slave market.

The next site that sticks out in my memory coming down from the North was a Slave Bath site. The slaves were bathed and groomed in and on the shores of a small river that ran through the area. This was their last bath before reaching the coast. The place was quite beautiful to my eyes today, but while we were there I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of suffering that happened centuries ago.

Perhaps one reason I couldn't "comprehend the magnitude of the suffering" of all these sites was the presentation. Ghana's Ministry of Tourism (THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM!!!) made these sites visitable, physically and commercially, and a lot of our tour guides spouted off memorized scripts at all the places. It was difficult, already, to wrap my mind around the concept of what all happened, and on top of that the set up made it even more difficult. But the castles cleared that up for me.

 Finally, the Castles on the Coast. They were beautiful, in all their cement strength and with their seaside views. But the dungeons, rooms, and quarters we witnessed were sub-human. In fact, Elmina castle was used as a warehouse for not slaves, but goods and products for centuries before it became to be known as a Slave Fort. It was in Elmina Castle, staring at the Door of No Return, where the African people walked one last time on African soil, that it began to hit me. 

The bus ride after, coming to Accra, was quiet. I did a lot of thinking on that bus ride.

Medasi,

Padma

Day 12: Dreamlike Beach Resort :)

We're finally on the beach again, staying at (If I may say for so for myself) a posh Beach Resort! There's a sweet stickiness in the air that the sea spray creates, with the ocean so close we can taste the salt on our lips again and walk through the moist sand and groves of palm trees just to go to dinner. The waves roar in the background and create a white noise at all times. Its nice to wake up to this though!

Our drive from Kumasi was quite peaceful. It was amazing how much greenery surrounded us! Everything was so thick and lush.

The coast here is so rough though! I've never seen such huge waves that are so loud! When we arrived here yesterday, we played in the Atlantic for a long while. At first, I was tugged and dunked every which way. But after a good twenty minuets or so, I learned to keep my head above the surface and how to brace myself against the waves so as not to get pushed back every time.

It's amazing to think that on these very beaches just three hundred years ago, the Slave Trade was in its peak. So many people suffered here, some lost their lives, and all were thrust into a new life which was nothing like they had experienced before. And today, in 2012, we've seen, learned, and enjoyed so much on these same beaches.

Medasi,
Padma

Day 10!

Here in Kumasi we went on a morning walk. Schoolchildren walking to their trotros (local public taxis here) or bus stops became a familiar sight. The children here smile and wave back at us :)

Kumasi is the capital of the Asante region. The Asante people are absolutely beautiful! I think I'm regaining my sense of seeing beauty in everyone, one thing I'm happy and thankful for. I also realized that I've gained an African/Ghanaian taste of attractiveness. Its funny how that happens when you immerse yourself in another culture, when you're around people of the same nationality all the time.

We've seen the Asante Palace, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and lots of other sites. Its beautiful, and this cloudy weather helps a lot!

Medasi,
Padma

Day 8: Calm in Kumasi

The last two days have been a whirlwind of activities! I finally got some time to write, but I'm just going to share some of my observations and realizations because I feel that what we actually did wasn't as important as what we learned doing it.

-The children here are much less sheltered than in the "developed" world. I guess that the poorer children anywhere are forced to be more responsible than children higher up on the socio-economic ladder. Here, children of two or three know how to care for their month-old siblings.

- The people here are so friendly. I can smile, wave, or say, "Hi, how are you?" and they respond! For me personally, its a nice way to diffuse the awkwardness whenever random guys stare :) Now, after Ghana, I want to greet people in every country that I travel to and see how people respond. I know in the States its usually a gruff, short, reply and people are on their way, with the "Time is Money" mindset.

- At our previous hotel in Tamale, I realized how different the hotel-key system is here. Whenever we leave the hotel, we hand our keys in, and they know that they can then clean our rooms. But in Tamale, when I went to pick up my key after we got back from an outing, the receptionist remembered my room number with my face and just handed it over without a word! I didn't have to tell him or anything. In the US, they would:
   (1) expect us to keep our keys and not have us turn them in when we leave...and the key would actually be a key-card, not keys like they are here.
    (2) ask us what are room number is, not remember and just know when we came back to pick it up!

- Cars and lories honk all the time! Dr Arrington said that its a form of communication, just like English or Twi. But its always cool how vehicles honk at people and bikes also on the road to let them know they're coming. And even with such loud honks, people don't even turn their heads to look...they understand and know that a car or lori is coming and move over.

-Using the restroom along the long drives has literally been an adventure in itself. So far we've seen really nice toilets, terrible toilets, semi-pit latrines, pit latrines, and used the "bush bathroom" several times. I've realized its really not that bad, especially if you're wearing a skirt :)

- I've found a new sense of appreciation for the iPhone. I haven't been making phone calls on it because of the data roaming charges, but I can still do sooo much on it! I've taken pictures, listened to music, made notes...did I mention making notes? I've made several to record all the thoughts I've had and incredible things I've seen.

-A previous government here installed speed bumps on pretty much every major roadway so that drivers must slow down and accidents may be avoided. For us, it's definitely slowed us down!

-Driving around up North has made me realize how many more donkeys there are in the North! The first one I saw caught me off guard because there are virtually none down South. But all the villages in the North have them!

Ok it's late. More later!
Medasi,
Padma

Day 6 at Daybreak!

It was hard to wake up early this morning because we stayed up late last night talking. I was so glad I did though, because we (just four of us) finally went on the jog we've been thinking of doing every morning!
 We started our run at 6 AM sharp, and boy was it a good run! We saw all the early morning routines of people on the outskirts of Tamale (our hotel is in the outskirts of town so we ran towards the heart of the city through the suburbs, if you could call it that). Lots of goats, chickens, and roosters were already up. The streets weren't quite as thronging as yesterday (yet!) but they were still pretty busy. The four of us ladies got some stares and honks :)
  Now we're off to a busy day around Tamale!

Medasi,
Padma