September 4, 2010

Prepared by Gerard

The day began at 5am with a 4 ½ hour bus ride to Cape Coast. We arrived at 9:30am at the Cape Coast Slave castle. Here we had a glance of the reality regarding the transatlantic slave trade. Each room we viewed told us a horrific story. You could still smell death in the castle. To think humans allowed this behavior was overwhelming. The best part of the tour was our guide. He blamed all humanity for these acts and was more focused on sending a positive message to all visitors.

After the tour, we decided to explore. To our surprise our former group of volunteers we said our tearful goodbyes less than 24 hrs ago pulled up in front of us. It has shown us how small of a world we live in.

Next up was Elmina slave castle. Most of the group was emotionally drained from the first castle so they decided to pass. This castle was the largest transatlantic slave castle in the world. During the tour I could not help to find it bizarre that there were churches residing on the compounds next to all the evil.

After our informative afternoon of history, it was time to shower and head to dinner at coconut grove. The setting was amazing between the sounds of the ocean waves crashing, beach view, and great company of new and old friends.

Expanding our horizons from Senchi Ferry allowed us to discover how precious the village we are helping really is. This adds to my appreciation of my time here more and more.