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Published: March 12th 2008
Fri. February 29th-Sun. March 2nd: Group trip to Cape Coast
Our first group trip paid for by our dues to SUNY was to Cape Coast, which is about an hour or two outside of Legon. Mercy picked us up at 8:30am and we piled all our stuff on to the top of the van. The drive there was really different scenery. For about a third of the drive, the road was bordered by villages of huts made of mud. The walls were completely mud, like they were one with the ground, coming right up out of the dirt. It was exactly like the places you see on tv asking for money to sponsor an elderly person or child. It was very surreal, being that we just drove past them, and couldn’t go up to touch and look at the houses up close. I would really like to go back and walk through the compound and talk to the people that live there.
One other thing that we passed while driving has very much stayed with me, and probably always will. First of all, it is not at all uncommon for people to come to your car and ask for money, mostly when they are selling things, but also begging. Lots of times a sad and destitute elderly person will be wheeled around the street in between cars whizzing by, and hold their hands out asking for money, often telling you how they need a surgery or medicine that only costs $10 or so, but can’t afford it. The man that specifically made an impression on me was laying on a piece of cardboard, barely big enough for him. He was clearly horribly crippled, and lay on his stomach, with one hand under his head and the other raising only a few inches off the ground as people would walk by, asking for money. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever seen. People would walk by him, in business suits with brief cases, merchants selling things, school children.. and not one person even looked at him. It was as though he was part of the pavement. I have no idea whether he sleeps there at night, or if someone comes to get him and bring him back in the morning, but he seemed completely incapable of moving on his own. Shane and I have been talking about how difficult it is to not give these people money that ask for it when they are clearly in need. Everyone in our group, as well as privileged people here I have talked to in general, seem to have unanimously adopted the policy not to give anything to beggers. But it’s hard to be convinced that that is right. I understand as a white person here, I am assumed to have money, and by giving money to someone I create a stereotype that white people carry money on them, and guide books warn against doing this, because it makes it more dangerous for other white travelers because people here will be more motivated to steal white tourists’ bags and possessions. But it’s not easy to adopt this policy unanimously. For instance, Shane and I were walking to church yesterday, and a man named Robert began walking next to us, striking up polite conversation, which is not at all an uncommon thing, especially on Sundays when walking in the general direction of church. As we were talking he asked if maybe we had a few dollars to spare, and motioned to his left foot, which was enormously warped and swollen, and wrapped in only a few rags. He told us he needed a walking brace from the hospital, but it cost $10 and he didn’t have the money (which is completely believable, as minimum wage here is $1.50… a day.) As per what everyone always does, we said we didn’t have any money on us. It bothered me all day though that we didn’t give him anything. I guess he could have been scamming us, and have a brace but just not choose to wear it I suppose, but I just find that hard to believe I guess. It’s not an easy thing to face everyday though, but it sure makes you realize how absolutely blessed we are. I am very much looking forward to finding some volunteer opportunities here, although I haven’t been able to find any as of yet.
So yes, that was a long tangent, anyhow.. After we checked in the hotel (which was very beautiful, and entirely incongruent with everything we had driven past all morning), first Mercy took us on a drive through University of Cape Coast, just to get to see what other universities look like here. It looked basically the same, but apparently the students there are not quite as used to foreigners as the students here are, and stared at us even more than they do here, if that’s possible. From there we went to a Portuguese castle used for slave trade, which was really incredible. There were rooms the size of a dorm room where they said 100-200 people were forced to live together for up to 6 months. There was one room that we walked into that smelled a strange when we walked in, not quite like mold... just strange. Our guide told us the smell still hasn’t cleared out from when it was filled with slaves. He pointed to a line on the wall, about 3 or 4 inches above the ankle, and said that was the level of the urine, feces, and vomit in while the slaves were living there. It was enough to make you weak in the knees. In the center of the castle there was a small church which the white people in the castle attended every Sunday, and ironically, sat right on top of the largest slave dungeon. The guide said that the slaves would be able to hear the singing of the Sunday church services, and likewise, the whites would hear the screams of the slaves below all throughout the service.
Our guide showed us the “door of no return” which was a small opening in the wall of the castle with an iron bar door that led to the beach, where they boarded the slave ships. There were wreaths of silk flowers one the floor around the door that people have left in memory to the slaves. Many of the wreaths, the guide said, were from people from other countries who have come back to Ghana to honor their ancestors were taken away as slaves. It was a pretty incredible thing to see. The door itself couldn’t have been much larger than 2 feet wide and 5 feet tall, which showed how skinny the slaves were when they were shipped out. The whole castle itself was white washed, and all the doors and bars on the cells were painted black, so the entire place incredibly eerie feeling. Obviously I’ve studied these things in class, and know how destructive white imperialism has been to the African people, but after walking thorough a place that literally still smelt of the death that white people created here, I am amazed that the African people here don’t shout at us constantly to leave their home. It’s really incredibly remarkable that they are able to forgive and forget something so atrocious so quickly.
The next morning, Saturday, we got up early and traveled a short distance to Kakum National Park. Kakum, first of all, has an average 90% humidity rate, is the home for 40 some species of large mammal, including many different types of monkey, forest elephants, leopard, forest hog, various reptiles, etc, and is the home of the second largest canopy walk in Africa. Now this canopy walk.. 40 meters high and totaling 350 meters long and, looks down on the canopy of the jungle, and made of basically entirely rope and wood, with only a stabilizing metal cable here or there… pretty intense. The wooden board we walked on top of was only wide enough so that there was an inch or less on either side of your foot. Rope nets were connected to the both sides of the board and came up to waist height. There were 7 of these bridges, suspended between 7 trees, with a small viewing platform around the trunk of each tree. Only two people were allowed to walk on each bridge at a time, and as such, the bridge would sag slightly where the two people were walking… giving them a continual surging rush of adrenaline the entire length of the walk. Before we started our walk the guide warned “Now, don’t be alarmed if the trees and the bridges start swaying or moving around. It’s just the wind.” lol yeah… “just” the wind. But Shane, scared to death of heights, suuuuuch a champ. You have no idea. Just kept marching right along… marching at a height that people have sky dived from that is. I was so proud of him. I know he was nervous though because he kept saying things like, “you know… these boards… all it would take is a few termites… they have termites here don’t they?” lol But the canopy walk was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. People rarely see any animals during the day, but they offer an overnight trip, where you stay in a wall-less hut out in the middle of the reserve, and they you have a pretty good chance of seeing elephants that way. We hope to go back and stay there overnight sometime next month.
(Side note: back at the base of the reserve there is a small outdoor restaurant called “Rainforest Café.” Ironic that there should really be a café in the rainforest, which is actually not at all like the chain restaurant back in the States of the same name. We couldn’t help but wonder which café came first lol)
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Nina!
non-member comment
HEY! You're African birthday adventure sounded AMAZING! Mad props, Shane. Mad props. I really know what you're going through with the beggar thing, it was the same thing in India. It breaks your heart in 10 different ways, but you know as soon as you give money to one person or kid, 50 more are all around you which, hate to say it, is dangerous. The canopy walk is SO NEAT! I'm so happy you're having a great time! Stay safe, I miss and love you!!