Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Today me and 5 other volunteers went to Cape Coast, West of Accra. It took us 1.5 hours to get there by tro-tro, costing 2.3 Ghanain Cedi, which is about 1pound 40 pence.
Hajia was bewildered when I said I wont have time for breakfast because I slept through my alarm. I had to drink tea, and she packed me bananas on toast to take with me. By toast I mean about a third of a loaf, buttered on every visible side except the crust. A filling breakfast to say the least :o)
I brought my big backpack full of necessities because I was unsure as to where we were actually staying for 2 nights. Everyone else just had a rucksack or daysack. Lesson learnt as my back was pretty sore after carrying it around all day.
Cape coast is most famous for it's castle which was origianlly built for the export of timber abd gold in the 19th century, giving the Ghana'd coastline the name Gold Coast. The British actually developed to give it it's castle status, and it was later used for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Millions of Africans were shipped from this port to America, but first were kept there in the dungeons for upto 3 months. We were taken on a tour of the castle, we were told it could hold upto 1500 slaves which is hard to believe when you see the size of the dungeons. Then we heard about the conditions they had to survive in and the treatment they suffered...I felt ashamed to be British. The most amazing thing is, I know of no Ghanain who has any resentment towards the British or to me when I tell them I am British. There is hope yet for the West, maybe they could take tips from Africa on how to be civilised towards eachother. It is nothing but the mentality of the people here that make it the most peaceful nation.
After the tour of the castle, I fancied some beach time, so Pia and I went down to the shore, only to discover fishermen were the only people about, swimming did not seem to be the thing to do. O well, we did see a pig on the beach though!
- comments