One thing I have always wanted to do was find about my culture and its history. This trip to Ghana, was different to the last time I came in 2012 I was definitely exploring more. My mum decided to take my siblings and I to her hometown: Cape coast which is also the home of the famous Cape coast and Elmina castle.
Despite being named castles they were actually dungeons where people were held captive as slaves before being shipped off to Europe/America. Both ‘castles’ were two out of forty slave dungeons in West Africa during the slave trade. Elmina castle originally named ‘Sao Jorge da Mina’ was the first out of two to be built by the Portuguese in 1482 but it was not built for the purpose of slave trading. The trading of slaves started in Elmina during the 1700’s. On the other hand, Cape coast castle was built by the British purposely for the slave trade. It was a different experience for me.
I didn’t really know much about the slave trade, my secondary school was predominantly white I can’t even count the number of times we celebrated black history month on one hand..but I do remember when we had blind awareness month the same month as black history month lol. Anyway back to the point..It was different for me actually being there standing where the slaves were kept and listening to the different stories about the inhumane treatment they experienced.
The most upsetting element of the ‘castles’ was the fact that each castle had a Church within it built above a slave chamber and every Sunday they would hold services whilst people were suffering and dying beneath them.
It was great exploring the castles, it’s one those things where you have to go to understand you can’t really see much through pictures. If you do find yourself taking a trip to Ghana and are looking for places to go these two ‘castles’ should be on your list.
afianatasha 