Ghana part 2, Castle Slave Cave.
Sad gut wrenching time as we visited the slave caves. 40 of us loaded on a buss, and traveled 1 hour to the castle.
After walking through a plain looking entrance, our guide explained the history of the place. It was where they sold and enslaved people from 1500-1840 before they shipped them out to various locations around the world. They estimated nearly a million people were captured and sent into slavery from this castle alone. The guide ushered us toward a cave entrance where a sign read “slave cave”,
We moved down the cave entrance, all forty of us. Picture a group of people, men and women, ages 18-50, All races, about a dozen of which were African Americans. They appeared to want to take the initiative and lead the way. It was as if they were saying “we must see this damn place for ourselves”.
Everyone was very quiet as we entered the cave; one bulb by the entrance lit our way. We proceeded down the corridor until reaching the bottom. It was explained that in this 40x80 foot area nearly a thousand people were held captive. One cave turned into three as we moved around the corner, the torture section where people were bound with chains and hooked to the wall, the section where people left through a tunnel to the waiting boats, the section where the troublemakers were brought to die of starvation and torture. The one bulb lighting our way was turned off in order to give us a better understanding of what the people experienced. It was nearly pitch black, except for a small sliver of light coming through a one inch crack in the top of the wall.
The chained torture room had a drain in the middle where the crusted dark stains still remained after all these years. I imagined the thousands of people clawing at the cement walls trying to free themselves. It was gruesome, but real and I wanted to see more.
One cave had been turned into a shrine. The hole in the wall where the people were taken to the boats had been completely covered by cement. The shrine now sits in its place. We were told one of the people who returned from slavery plastered the wall shut so no one could ever use it again.
We left the caves and were ushered across the courtyard to a different section. This one contained a “female slave” sign above it. It was on the level courtyard ground area so the people who ran the place could be easily ushered there and pick out a women for the night. The African American women seemed to want to lead the procession now into the darkest corners of these caves. We walked in stone silence, trying to fathom the evil which must have encrusted the hearts of the men who ran this place.
Just outside the female slave caves was the “door of no return”. Beyond it, people were ushered into a canoe to be transported to a larger ship offshore. It was explained that when a women was found pregnant during the long voyage, she was tossed overboard. We opened the door, beyond which now lays a fishing scene straight out of the 1700’s. Children played on the beach and fish being netted filled your senses in the bright sunshine.
The west coast of Ghana has 4 or 5 of these castles preserved for history. It must be similar to visiting the concentration camps in Germany.
A truly unforgettable experience. |
