Ghana - 06 Apr 08 - 16 Apr 08

My next stop in my journey across West Africa was the country of Ghana.  I only had time to visit 3 places, but I learned an enormous amount about Ghanaian culture and even more about history, particularly the history of slavery.  I also had the opportunity to meet some of the Mensah family, brothers and sisters of Maputo and Mawuenyega Mensah who live in Boulder.

Here is the river that marks the border between Ivory Coast and Ghana.  I got a car from Abidjan to the border, walked across this river and to the Ghanaian immigration post, then found another car to take me onward to Cape Coast.

My first stop in Ghana was the town of Cape Coast.  It's a vibrant fishing community about halfway along Ghana's coastline.  The centerpiece of the waterfront is the Cape Coast Castle, one of about 137 forts constructed along the coast of West Africa by European powers in the 1600-1800's.  Cape Coast Castle was the former seat of the British colonial administration of the Gold Coast (Ghana's colonial name).  It is one of the oldest forts on the coastline and, like many of the others, changed hands between various European powers as they all vied for commercial dominance of the region, until being held by the British for over 200 years.  When trade turned from gold and ivory to slaves, Cape Coast Castle became the largest slave-trading center in West Africa.

Looking out over Cape Coast from inside the castle.  The boats in the foreground are fishing canoes, made locally.

Cape Coast Castle.

A visit to Cape Coast Castle includes a tour of the former dungeons, explaining in depth the treatment of the slaves and the conditions they were forced to endure.  I'm going to give a short recap of this tour.

This is the beginning of the tour.  This doorway leads down into the Male Slave Dungeon (the slaves were held in separate dungeons depending on their gender).

Inside the Male Slave Dungeon.  Our guide explained that the slaves were held here for about 3 months awaiting transport to the New World.  In that time, the human waste, including urine, fecal matter and vomit, accumulated to a height of a couple feet deep covering the whole floor and the slaves were forced to stay in their own filth during the entire time they were kept here.  I tried to imagine how a person could sleep (not to mention survive) in these conditions.

This is a collection of wreaths left by various African American groups that come to the castle every year in honor of the memory of their ancestors and what they went through.

Here is the Female Slave Dungeon.  Although the conditions were similar to the Male Slave Dungeon, the density of persons kept here was not as high.

Female slaves were routinely raped by their captors.  The female slaves who refused to endure this atrocity were placed in this special punishment cell for several weeks.  This tiny cell would accommodate up to 14 women at a time.

Here is the cell where rebellious male slaves were kept.

These marks on the floor of the cell for rebellious slaves were made by captives who carved them into the stone with their shackles.  They were forced to wear the shackles even though they were already locked up in a cell.

Here is the "Door of No Return".  Slaves were marched out of this door and into waiting slave ships for the 3 month journey across the Atlantic.  Waiting for them at the end of that journey (if they survived it) was a life of captivity and endless labor for someone else's profit.

On the outside of the "Door of No Return" is written "Door of Return" in honor of all of the people of African descent from throughout the diaspora who have made the journey back to Africa to find their roots and witness the historical remnants of slavery in Africa.  These "Doors of No Return" are thus transformed into symbols of hope.

On the top floor of the castle are the old quarters of the British governor, considerably nicer and more comfortable than the dungeons that lay 2 stories directly under his feet.  There also used to be a church in the courtyard of the castle, built directly on top of where the dungeons were.  It was said that after service on Sundays, worshipers who walked out of church could hear the cries of the slaves in the dungeon below them.

An inscription mounted on the wall at the entrance to the Male Slave Dungeon.  The tour of the castle ends here.  

After the tour was over, I took a little break to try and let the enormity of what I'd just experienced soak in.  I took some pictures from the castle walls looking out at daily life going on below me.

Here are some fishermen preparing to launch their craft.

More fishing activity as nets are unfurled and boats are prepared to be launched.

After my little break, I entered the museum portion of the castle to finish the learning experience of Cape Coast Castle.

Here is a map that shows the Triangular Trade Route, which I mentioned in my earlier post from Senegal.  For those not familiar, this is the name given to the trading network that developed around slavery.  It started and ended in Europe, with European vessels loading manufactured goods and sailing to West Africa, where they traded the goods for human slaves.  They then loaded the slaves in place of the goods and set off across the Atlantic.  Upon arrival in the Americas, the slaves were sold and plantation goods such as cotton and rum, the product of slaves' labor, were loaded onto the same boats which then returned to Europe and sold these products, bought more manufactured goods to trade for slaves and the cycle continued.  The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was responsible for displacing something on the order of 12 million African people.

This display in the museum shows shackles and collars that were used to restrain slaves.  There is also a branding iron, which was heated up red-hot and then used to sear a mark into the slaves' flesh, signifying ownership.

The business end of a slave branding iron.

This diagram shows how slaves were packed into a slave ship for transport across the Atlantic.  It was a brutal journey and many did not survive.

A poster advertising a slave auction from the 19th century United States.

A picture showing a slave who was whipped by his master, with intense scarring on his back.

The museum also featured an excellent display on the traditional cultures of the local Akan peoples of this region of Ghana, explaining everything from domestic life to cultural symbols used by the king.  

The next day I walked around town and took some pictures.  Most of the small shops in Ghana I saw had names with some sort of Biblical or religious dimension.  I saw many stores with names such as "God is Great Electronics".  Here is one below.

A dumptruck stuck in a deep pothole.

After Cape Coast, I got a car to the capital city of Accra.  Accra is a large city, and quite modern.  It is also quite an approachable place, fairly easy to navigate, and full of friendly people.  I stayed with Afi Mensah, the sister of Maputo and Mawuenyega Mensah, two drumming and dance teachers who live in Boulder.

Here is a picture of Afi preparing Fufu, which in Ghana is made by cooking yams and cassava, then mashing them together (what she is doing here).  The resulting mixture has a consistency like super-sticky play-doh and is eaten with the right hand by dipping in the accompanying sauce.  I really liked fufu and Afi made it several times during my stay there.

Afi's kids, Patrick and Ma Mary.

I also got a chance to meet Afi's brother Joseph Mensah.  Here he is pictured giving me a kpanlogo lesson.  Kpanlogo is a popular drumming and dance style from Ghana.

Here is a view over Jamestown, a densely populated neighborhood of Accra close to the water.  I took this picture from the roof of a building shortly after walking through Jamestown to check it out.

A view looking down to the street.

Here is Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, dedicated to Ghana's first president.  He was a very important leader, not just for Ghana but for all of Africa.  Ghana was the first African country to win their independence from colonialism and thusly Kwame Nkrumah became the first African president of the modern era.  He was instrumental in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union), and in setting an example for other nations and leaders to follow.

A statue portraying Kwame Nkrumah showing the way forward.

W.E.B. du Bois, the famous African-American activist and scholar, moved to Ghana at Kwame Nkrumah's invitation and spent the last few years of his life living in this house.  It is now a museum dedicated to his memory.  Du Bois was an ardent pan-Africanist and was engaged in writing an encyclopedia of pan-Africanism during his final years in Ghana.

This quote from du Bois reads: "One thing alone I charge you.  As you live, believe in life.  Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life.  The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long."

A book that was a gift to du Bois from Einstein, bearing a handwritten note from him to du Bois.

W.E.B. du Bois' final resting place, constructed in the form of a traditional Ghanaian chief's burial site.  On the right you can see two stools.  There are a total of seven in the burial chamber, each with an elaborate base carving that represents some aspect of W.E.B. du Bois' life.  In Ghanain culture, particularly that of the Akan peoples, these stools are important symbols of authority and are often the property of chiefs and kings.

Here are some shots walking around the city's various neighborhoods.  I found some more small shops with interesting names (I don't think these are Biblically inspired).

I wonder if Pepsi knows about this.

This is Rawlings Park, dedicated to one of Ghana's former presidents.  Other than the arch, the park pretty much serves as a parking lot and open-air market simultaneously, with parked cars and people set up everywhere hawking all sorts of goods.

This huge arch houses the Eternal Flame of African Liberation, lit by Kwame Nkrumah after Ghana's independence was achieved.  It sits in Black Star Square, a huge, empty expanse of concrete next to the ocean.

This is a statue of King Tackie Tawiah I, the 20th king of the Ga kingdom, which encompassed the region around Accra.  His reign was from 1862 to 1902.  

A view walking around inside the massive Makola Market in downtown Accra.  Vast markets like this are divided into huge sections, with a region for produce, another for clothes, another for cooking accessories, another for electronics, etc.

Here is the outside of the National Museum in Accra.

Inside the museum.  The displays here were very interesting, explaining everything from the special textiles used by Ghanaian peoples to the ceremonial stools (mentioned earlier) used by chiefs to musical instruments, farming methods, dances, etc.

My last stop in Ghana was the city of Kumasi, northwest of Accra in the hilly country at the heart of the Ashanti region of Ghana.  The Ashanti are the most prominent of the Akan peoples who populate a large region of southern Ghana and are closely related to the peoples living in the central region of neighboring Ivory Coast.  Kumasi was formerly the capital of the Ashanti kingdom and still houses the royal palace and the Ashanti royal family.  Kumasi is also something of a cultural convergence zone, with many neighborhoods of primarily northern Ghanaian people, who unlike their southern Christian neighbors are primarily Muslim.  

Here is a view looking over the massive Kejetia Market, right in the heart of Kumasi.  You can probably buy just about anything you could imagine here.

Walking around inside Kejetia Market.

A narrow thoroughfare through the market's stalls.  

These women used the sandals they were selling to play a rhythm, accompanied by a song, to attract customers to their stall.

Here is a shop selling authentic Kente cloth, which is painstakingly handwoven on a traditional loom.  The bright fabric is often used in clothes for weddings and is highly prized.  

A statue on the street showing a man playing traditional Ashanti drums that were used to announce the arrival of the king.  

This seemed to be the place to come if you need anything typed up.

The entrance gates to the old royal palace, now a museum of the Ashanti royal family called the Manhyia Palace.  No photos were allowed inside, but they have an interesting collection of artifacts, from traditional stools, swords and guns to Ashantiland's first television, a gift to the royal family from the British.  At one point during my visit, some men came in and opened up the cabinet containing the ceremonial guns and removed several of them.  Apparently, court was in session that day and the guns, far from being dusty artifacts in a museum, are still used as symbols of authority when the king holds court.

Kumasi is chock-full of museums.  Here is another, the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum, which is dedicated to the life of one of the former kings of the Ashanti.  One of the interesting things in this museum is a picture of the Golden Stool, the central relic representing the power and authority of the Ashanti Kingdom.  A fake Golden Stool was made and handed over to the British and the fake stool is also in the museum.  

Here is the Royal Rolls Royce, formerly owned by Prempeh II.

The Prempeh II Museum is housed within the National Cultural Centre.  This sculpture, on its grounds, is one of the 54 or so Adinkra symbols, which are pictorial representations of Akan proverbs.  This symbol (pictured below) is called Nyame Ye Ohene and represents power or the supremacy of God.  My favorite Adinkra symbol (not pictured) is Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu, which is an image of two siamese crocodiles who share a stomach.  The message of the proverb is that the two heads of the crocodile will only hurt one another if they fight over food, as they share one stomach.  Thus, we should have democracy, or "unity out of diversity", a reminder to think of the bigger picture and share with others.

Typical public transport in Kumasi.

Here is a Ghanaian version of the Sword in the Stone.  It is called the Okomfo Anokye Sword, and is housed in a small museum on the grounds of a hospital, making it a bit tricky to find.  The sword, according to legend, marks the spot where the Golden Stool descended from the sky at the founding of the Ashanti kingdom.  It's been in the ground for over 300 years and if anyone ever pulls it out, the Ashanti kingdom will fall.

After a very full ten days in Ghana it was time to head onwards to Togo, the next stop on my trip.  Here is a street scene from Aflao, the border town and my last stop in Ghana before crossing over to Togo's capital city of Lome, the subject of my next posting.