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On a hot fall morning in Ghana, a group of friends and I embarked on a journey of a lifetime as we boarded a small Eurobus and traveled on a trip we would never forget.
We were bound for the Elmina and Cape Coast slave castles. It took us four hours to reach the castles, allowing us time to emotionally and spiritually prepare for what we would endure. Upon arriving at the coast, our bus parked and was met with many local artists and merchants looking to showcase their products.
My eyes, however, were immediately drawn to the enormous, dilapidated architecture of the first castle. Listening to the tour guide describe the horrid conditions and the religious and often political influences that governed those conditions left my eyes filled with tears.
As the tour continued, our guide, Sebastian Tetley, said, “Can you imagine being separated from your family, unable to bathe, having very little if any food provisions, having to relieve your waste while chained to hundreds of other people as you stand chained in a hot, dark, smelly dungeon not knowing what your fate holds, never seeing the outside until the day you approach a door … .”