Tuesday 4th August 2009 Today was a day where we stayed at the Kokrobitey site and had lectures. The first dealt with issues of spirituality of the slaves and the second dealt with resistance among enslaved peoples. The spirituality discussion was particularly interesting as although people would think that the enslaves Africans were of traditional and Islamic belief systems, there is evidence confirming that some of the men, women and children who were trans...

Monday 3rd August 2009 Today was a great day. Professor Yaw Bredwa-Mensah, a University of Ghana lecturer, took us around the house of a former plantation owner. Firstly, it was a surprise to many of us to find out that they even used to HAVE plantations in Ghana. Although the slave trade was a tad non-sensical - transferring labour across the seas instead of trying to install plantations in Africa - that was the way things were done. So to find out that there ...

Sunday 2nd August 2009 - CULTURAL GROOVE Though this is an educational trip, it is not solely based upon lectures or trips to sites of educational value. There is a cultural exchange side of the trip with the Ghanaians and the Americans and the Brits given opportunities to find out about each other and the cultures of the various countries. Personally, Americans and Brits get enough attention as it is and so I am going to concentrate on the Ghanaian side of t...

Saturday 1st August 2009 Finally arrived at the Kokrobitey Institute in Accra, Ghana, just after one in the morning. The two Ghanaians who drove me here, Yaw and Patrick, illustrate what I wrote about earlier in regard to languages: Patrick speaks three and Yaw speaks eight (or was it nine including English?) The Institute is beautiful; a place of learning where we foreigners are encouraged to respect Ghanaian traditions as we learn a little about this count...

FRIDAY 31st JULY 2009 - TRAVELLING TRIALS Even though, by many standards, I'm reasonably well travelled - I've been to seven or eight islands in the Caribbean; America over ten times; and Europe just as many times - coming to Ghana has been exactly the eye-opening and heart-warming experience I was hoping for. However, before we get there, let's talk about travelling. It's boring. It's slow. It's monotonous. Reading, writing, listening to music and people-watch...