Trip to Cape Coast and more

I cannot believe that it is already February 8^th. Time is FLYING by!

Wednesday after class, Emily came to Labone to spend some time with Kelsey and I. We first went to an ice cream shop that was recommended by one of the RAs- Arlenccino, which served Italian Gelato and COFFEE!!! It was pretty expensive, but worth it. Afterwards I took her to Marjorie, our dress-maker (she is Ghanaian and not at all affiliated with NYU, but we all have her make our dresses) to put in a request and get one of my dresses fitted.

Later that night, we went to Reggae night on Tawala beach, a weekly event with live music. Because it was Bob Marley’s birth week, his wife was there. Apparently she lives in Ghana. Anyway, she made a speech, and everyone sang happy birthday to Bob. It was much MUCH crazier than usual (and Reggae night can get pretty wild, especially with a bunch of obruni girls arriving together), but I found some students in a different study abroad group and ended up talking with them for a while. I love standing in the waves and listening to live music.

Thursday I took the day to rest, which was very needed. I read, journaled, and generally reflected on things. I definitely need more time to myself- I live in a house with 18 other students, and while I love having people around all the time, it can be easy to forget to rest. I should probably do that more.

Friday was my first full day at City of Refuge, and the highlight of my week. I arose early in the morning to make the journey- I have to take two trotros and a taxi to get all the way to the site, and it can take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. I was nervous about navigating there on my first day, but it ended up being fairly simply. Long, but simple (then again, when is there not traffic in Ghana)

A new baby had arrived just before I got there. Her name is Princess (a common name here), and she is nine months old. She has some fairly significant health problems (developmentally, she is three months old) and was abandoned at the hospital. The government sent her to City of Refuge. The staff LOVE her, I haven't even gotten a chance to hold her yet. She is incredibly sweet.

Additionally, some of the children were participating in a local sports competition, up in the mountains. Apparently they had been training all week in “racing, long jumping, and high jumping”, and Friday was the championship. About six of the kids qualified and were not around all day.

With all of that craziness, the children had the day off of school. I was later told that they had never had such an easy day… Some of the staff went to purchase supplies, so I talked with the head teacher about plans for drama therapy and working on a performance with the children, as well as scheduling. Afterward, I wanted to get to know the children. I held babies (except for Melvin, who is terrified of white people), and watched “High School Musical II” (a late Christmas present from their San Fransiscan teacher, Autumn) which they danced to. The kids are so well taken care of- you wouldn’t know that they were recently slaves working in a fishing village except for their scars and their stories.

City of Refuge feeds us lunch, so I ate some sort of goop. There weren’t any non-Ghanaians around to explain it to me, but it was pretty good. The children were incredibly sweet. I love them already.

On Saturday, we got up to leave at 6:30am for Cape Coast, a town on the gulf in Ghana where the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade was conducted.  We toured the largest castle that held slaves, the Almena castle (which was Dutch), built in the mid 1400s. The tour guide has given many NYU tours, and he was phenomenal at explaining the history of the castle. It was heartbreaking- the smells of the dungeons, the darkness, and generally imagining the injustices that went on there.

It’s one thing to read about slavery in a textbook, another thing entirely to see where slaves were kept and here how they were treated in the actual place where they lived and died. It is easy to be distanced from the issue of slavery, particularly the trans Atlantic slave trade, but it was a human tragedy that I really believe needs to be remembered. Slavery continues to happen EVERY DAY, as the children at City of Refuge understand all too well. We all made a vow to do whatever it takes to prevent slavery and injustice in the world, and with the actual faces to put the numbers to I don't see how I could ever ignore this issue again. I hope that everyone gets the chance to see this castle sometime!

After touring the castle, we went to a national reserve that includes Africa’s only canopy walk. It reminded me or Robinson Crusoe or Tarzan, there were very (very) thin rope bridges that crossed the treetops. It was pretty awesome- I ended up going around twice (there are seven bridges total, about 30 minutes worth of crossing). Eventually we headed to our resort, where we swam in a pool and combed the beach for shells. We had a group dinner on the beach, and then a bon fire. The next day we awoke to a lovely brunch, and people had the option of going back in to Cape Coast to tour another castle, or staying at the resort. I chose to stay at the resort and take advantage  of the pool.

Yesterday, I went to City of Refuge for the second time. I took the trotro to Tema, where John and Stacy had agreed to pick me up. They had errands to run in the market there, so I helped pick our dozens and dozens of veggies and got to see the winding market of Tema- I loved it. When we got back to the house, the children were done with school for the day. I got to play my heart out with the kids, who were all getting their hair cut (I had to hold some of the babies very still). They fed me dinner and I was able to talk to John and Stacy, as well as the San Fransiscan head teacher Autumn.

I am in love with the children, I can’t wait to see them again on Friday!