In the name of all humanity, I apologize for our evil unfeelgooding :(
IN EVERLASTING MEMORY
OF THE ANGUISH OF OUR ANCESTORS
MAY THOSE WHO DIED REST IN PEACE
MAY THOSE WHO RETURN FIND THEIR ROOTS
MAY HUMANITY NEVER PERPETRATE
SUCH INJUSTICE AGAINST HUMANITY.
WE, THE LIVING, VOW TO UPHOLD THIS.
Having attended a British school for a big part of my life,
I had of course read all about the international slave trade
and seen the pictures in my history books.
And yes, it certainly was very sad.
But it was, er, um, I don't know how to put it...
It was tooo painfully sad, like from the bottom of my heart,
to literally be standing in the world's capital of slavery.
And even though you know that humans can be evil,
it's hard to comprehend the extent of this until you find yourself
in places like the Cape Coast and Elmina slave castles.
What a "dirty" history!
This is honestly what the place really felt like: haunted.
"Scholars debate about the total number of Africans caught in the slave trade,
but estimates range from 12 million to 25 million".
I just couldn't bring myself to pose for a picture here like everyone else.
Even though it was a nice photo op, somehow, it just didn't feel beautiful.
Care to be 1/300 in here?
There was just a one inch gutter in the middle of the floor.
So can you guess what 300 people had to sit in?
Piled up feces, urine, vomit, blood, decaying bodies, etc.
Quite a hell-hole! Specifically, about 50cm deep.
The sludge was apparently piled up
to the roman numeral chalk marks on the wall above.
Most of it has been cleared up, but you can still see here
the "hard" evidence of dried up excrement, bones, etc,
left behind and crumbling on the floor.
Fungus of course lined the walls.
The captain's job had quite a few "perks"
and his bedroom balcony had quite a beautiful view.
He would stand there (like the man in yellow)
and watch all the ladies on their way to their cells.
The chosen one he wanted would be led up these stairs...
... and exit through a trap door conveniently located inside his bedroom.
Any house guests would simply assume he's slipped out
for a quick bathroom break. Quite a quickie indeed!
It was very moving for the roles to be reversed
as we traced the slaves' footsteps.
We all leaned over and stretched our necks
to peer out at what would have been
their last view of their beloved homeland.
But unlike them, we were able to move on
and return through these doors.
They, on the other hand, moved on to the ships, and this:
What was most striking about both castles was how each had a church hall
right above the underground dungeons. And I'm sure their hymns
would have been audible all the way down there.
Psalm 132 is a prayer for blessing on the sanctuary.
But how could they possibly think this place could be blessed?!
Once you make your way out of the castles and dungeons though,
you can better enjoy the Cape Coast
with its coconut-lined beaches and charming fishing villages
Such beauty... It is a blessed (and cursed) land!
