Elmina Castle Reflection

I really felt the need to write about my experience at Elmina Castle more in depth than my other posts. We went there this past weekend and it was definitely a moving and very powerful trip.

I had no idea that this castle and even Ghana had such a huge role in slavery, thus again proving more and more of my ignorance and lack of historical knowledge of the place I chose to live in for half a year. Apparently the Portugese had set up Elmina Castle as their trading post in the 15th century. From there, all of the other European powers joined in. The Portugese began trading slaves and essentially started the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It wasn't until the early 19th century when the Dutch, who had come to control the castle, abolished the slave trade in their colonies.

I vaguely remember learning about the slave trade in school when I was much younger, but it was always taught as simply another topic in history and that's definitely how I had always perceived it. It wasn't until I was actually in Elmina, standing in the very cells these people were forced to live and die in that I finally was able to better understand what slavery actually meant.

African people were separated from their loved ones and divided by gender. They were crammed into cells and cages with little ventilation or sunlight. They were given only enough food and water to stay alive. Because of this, they could barely even stand or move to the side of the cell designated for human waste. They ended up just eating, sleeping, living, and excreting all in the same few cramped feet of space they had until they were either marched in chains to the boats or died.

For those that made it to the boats, they were chained in pairs and jammed into rows in order to fit as many slaves as possible per trip. During the trip across the Atlantic, many died, became ill, went into labor, and much more, all while still being chained to another human being. Rarely did any of the European traders monitor or tend to the slaves below the deck so they would be forced to remain chained to the ill or dead for the entirety of the journey.

I think it's safe to assume that we all know what happened if they made it to land alive, but it was this aspect of slavery, the conditions before even being sold, that I had never properly conceptualized until now.

Our education system censors history when we teach it to young students and we allow them to grow up in a world still dictated by racial tensions of the past. Clearly we've come a long way since the 1400s, but it is obvious by the prejudice, parochialism, distortion and censorship that we see in our media and society today that tells us we still have a long way to go.

I can only hope that we as a race continue to progress through the years and finally recognize that the color of someone's skin is by n o means a justification for treating them any differently than anyone else, nor is their religion, orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic status.

All Moved In!

I’m officially moved into my permanent room in the International Student Hostel. The rooms are seriously HUGE. Probably twice the size of my room in San Nic Freshman year and we have a ton of furniture so I’m stoked about it. I unpacked and decorated and have finally started feeling like this is my new home. Just wanted to show a few quick pics of my bed, desk, and balcony!!

Central Trip Region

This past weekend we took a trip to the central region where we made our first stop at Kakum National Park for the Canopy Walkway. It was SO COOL!!! We were up almost above all the trees walking on a wobbly and tiny path, but it was definitely one of the most amazing experiences ever!

After the fun part of the day though we moved on to a more somber location. We headed to Elmina Castle, which is recognized as one of the key trade posts that started the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It was so powerful and eery to be inside of this castle and even be locked in some of the slave cells. Look for a post specifically about that later on today.

Orientation

Last week was so busy and jam-packed with a crazy amount of educational, cultural, and social activities. It’s been amazing and so eye opening and I’m not sure if anything I write will even come close to describing what everything has felt or looked like.

We’ve been taking a few classes here and there while learning the local language (Twi) and about different cultural/historical aspects of Ghana. One of the highlights was definitely the traditional dance class!

We also went on a 3-day trip to Kumasi, the cultural capital of Ghana, where we had the opportunity to bargain with locals at a few markets, make our own custom kente cloths with traditional Adinkra symbols, visit the Manhyia Palace (where past kings have lived) and Lake Bosomtwe.

This week we had International Student Orientation with all of the other foreigners. Course Registration is the hot topic of the day/week and let’s just say it is one of the most frustrating, stressful, and inefficient processes I’ve ever been through, but it’s all part of the experience!! Everything is done by hand and you have to physically go to each department building to register for courses. Here I gooooo

Amsterdam

This is strictly a post for Andy, AJ, and Cyp. You know what it means. Since my flights were all messed up and I ended up having a layover in Amsterdam, I couldn’t resist. I’ll have you know that I went through 2 additional security checks just to take this picture!!! Luckily I had 7 hours in the airport so I wasn’t too worried about it.

PS: Let’s go back together.

I'm alive!

Hello World!

I haven't been on the internet once since I've been here because there isn't much access and orientation has just been insanely packed, but I just wanted to quickly drop in and let you all know that I did finally make it safely to Ghana and am loving it (for the most part).

The culture is so rich and I already feel like I've learned more in one week than I would taking a single class at UCSB. It's funny and sad to also meet other students and see how ignorant some of them really are. I shouldn't say funny, but some people are just really stupid and all I can do is laugh rather than get frustrated by their unconscious racism.

I'm not going to go on for too long because I just don't have much time left on the internet, but I would like to reflect on one very important thing: appreciation/gratitude. In just one week, I've already recognized how much more privileged I am than I had ever thought before. I have learned to appreciate so many seemingly simple things like toilet paper, hot water, electricity, transportation, clean water, milk, and so much more. I think this experience is going to be really good for me in that regard because it is really forcing me to reevaluate a lot of my life and materialistic tendencies.

I'll try to get back on here at some point in the near future, but now I need to go pack for tomorrow's trip to Kumasi! Hope everyone is still having a wonderful summer :)

One post about Texas

I'm almost ready to leave my hotel in Houston and head to the airport so I can finally start this international journey, but I had to post one thing....

Even their waffle irons have state pride.

FML (And I rarely use the phrase)

You always wonder what can go wrong when you're flying in airplanes. Sure, this isn't the worst thing that could happen. I am alive, after all. Here's my utterly depressing story explaining why I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Houston Texas and NOT on my way to Ghana...

Originally I was supposed to fly from LAX to Houston, connect 2 hours later to DC and 2 hours later, get on the flight to Ghana with the rest of the EAP group. Instead, there was no crew for my Houston flight so it got delayed 2.5 hours. Needless to say, I wouldn't be making my connecting flight to Ghana from DC so I went about trying to figure out another solution. After talking with 3 different Continental Agents, my new itinerary has me going from Houston to Amsterdam in the morning, and then to Ghana 7 hours later.

A few issues:

My bus to the University won't be there since I'm not with the rest of the group anymore. My luggage is now in DC. It won't be sent to Ghana until I have already arrived so I'll need to have it sent to my address. I don't actually know my address, but hopefully I'll have that figured out by then.

So now I wait. I wait in Texas angrily shaking my fist because George Bush (International Airport) has once again screwed me over. Not only in regards to airplanes, but also financially. Funny how ironic that is.

THE DAY HAS ARRIVED!!!

It's 1 in the morning. I'll be leaving my house in approximately 4 hours to head to LAX and then I'm off on my magical adventure! After talking with another returnee, I discovered that internet access may not be as readily available as I had initially expected. Apparently I may not even have it for a few weeks at a time so we'll see how frequently these posts occur...

YEEE HERE I GO!

Bump in the road Pt. I

Well, if you DO NOT want to hear a disgusting story...stop reading now.

Last week, what I thought to be a mildly infected bug bite ended up turning into an abscess. The best way I can describe while sounding extremely attractive is a huge sack of blood, pus, and bacteria that formed under my skin on my leg.

It was growing and hardening each morning, but the optimist in me was hoping it would naturally work itself out. HA WRONG. I went to Student Health and had to get it cut open and drained and now I have an open wound on my thigh with gauze literally sticking out of my leg. It almost looks like I've sprouted flower from my thigh!

Anyway, the antibiotics that I'm supposed to take for it interfere with my live oral Typhoid vaccine that I'm supposed to take so the doctors told me to take it later, but here's the problem: when I get to Ghana, I'm supposed to show verification that I've been vaccinated for Typhoid.

So here I am, worried that I'm not going to be able to do the one thing I've been planning for 2 years, open wound in my leg, and completely unsure of what to do next. Lucky for me, student health gave me the typhoid injection right there on the spot! It doesn't interfere with my meds so now all I have to worry about are my malaria pills and you know, the casual hole in my leg.

Either way, this combined with a number of other unfortunate events has made me realize that it's still a good thing these things are happening now rather than once I've already left for Ghana.

2 weeks from today! The journey is finally here!!!