4) Slave Fort and back to Accra

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Day 16, Wednesday, Feb 10

Today I feel completely recovered. It feels WONDERFUL to have bowels that are behaving themselves. I actually had an omelette for breakfast. We drove to the ‘Slave Castle’ at Kita this morning. As you drive from Akatsi to the coast the land becomes much lusher. The area looks greener and fertile. There are farms (shallots, cassava, mangoes, etc, etc) everywhere. As well, salt ponds flourish just inland from the sea. The people are relatively well off compared to the rest of the country with activities centred on fishing and agriculture.

The castle is in front of an expansive beautiful beach. It was built by the Dutch in 1784. The whole thing has an air of sadness about. The unimaginable horrors that took place here probably can’t be captured in descriptive narratives or prose. It has a feel about it that leaves you chilled, even in 35 degree heat.
Female Slaves (and children) were crowed in numbers of 400-500 in a walled courtyard of about 60’x60’. They were totally exposed to the elements, not provided food (to keep them weak) and were forced to lick water out of a narrow gutter (about the width of four fingers). No sanitary facilities were provided! The governor’s house was located on the side of the castle facing the sea. It was designed so that the governor could watch the female slaves he was ‘interested’ in bathing in concrete baths. The women, probably girls, whom he liked were brought to him for his pleasure.

Male slaves were chained to the floors in dungeons along the periphery of the compound the women were in. When the British took over the fort they added windows for ventilation. Before that the cells were completely closed in except for a heavy steel door. At one spot the surface of the concrete is scrapped away, this was done by fingernails!

People would remain in the fort until a slave ship arrived. This could be up to a month wait. I asked the tour guide why the slaves wouldn’t scale the walls since they at most were 10’ high. Simple answer, they were in chains. I picked up one of the chains; each link was a quarter of the size of my hand. Males of course were also chained to the floor and not feed to make sure they were weak and easily managed.
We left the castle and started on our way back to Accra. This is where ‘going with the flow’ enters the picture. The branch manager and driver obviously had a deal to use the trip for the manager to visit his constituency. We visited a small CU near the castle in Kita, then the manager’s wife and child, then an insurance company and finally a third CU (Progressive CU). At the Progressive CU we were invited by the manager to have a drink. A set-up ... you think?! He used the occasion to try to convince us to recommend to CUA that they should finance vehicles for CUs. He then offered to buy us lunch at a resort. Well, the resort was ‘ok’. It was across the street from a lovely spot where a vast multiple of goats had recently relieved themselves. There is nothing more appetizing than a fresh urine mixed with diesel odour . The menu of course was: rice and nucked chicken/fish. Lovely!

After lunch we went a short way down to the local lighthouse. I took pictures of the Atlantic and the fishermen working on the beach with their boats and drying their nets.

We dropped off the manager from Kita and Hohoe and then drove back (finally!) to Accra. It was 3 hours of gospel music along the best roads we have been on in Africa.

In Accra we met up with 3 of the other four teams and then went out for dinner at Momma Mia’s. I had the most welcome ‘normal’ food in my life. It was a glorious sea food pizza, heaven!!!!

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Photos

church in Kpando
still in use