Elmina Slave Castle

I stood in the same dark cave where many women stood 150 years ago and hoped to die. My fingertips pressed against the same walls where they clawed the musty concrete trying to stay in the dungeon filled with months of feces, urine, vomit, and menstrual blood. The stagnant air inside the cave still smells vile. The slave trade was something everyone studied during history class, but standing inside the slave castles was a different lesson.

In the center of the four dungeons that held the women was a small courtyard. Above it, a second level with a catwalk that led to the general’s bedroom. The women were brought into the courtyard where the general walked along the catwalk to select the woman he wanted to rape. The soldiers then washed the months of filth from the woman’s body. Once suitable, she would be led up a stairway to the bedroom to be raped. The women who fought back were chained and tortured on display in the courtyard to deter others from resisting.

For a few, there would be one solace. If they became pregnant, they would spared the journey across the Atlantic ocean. The general and the soldiers kept the mothers and their lighter skinned children in nearby homes. The children were given proper education which developed into the first Ghanaian schools. It is said that many of the locals with Portuguese or Dutch last names are descendants of these women.
After visiting the women’s dungeons, we were led to the caves that held 600 men at a time. Often times, tribes captured other rival tribes and brought them to the castles to trade for goods. Men of the same tribe were separated to make communication difficult. The captured men were fed a small meal only once a day to weaken them and lessen the chance of an uprising. There were men called “freedom fighters” who risked their lives to free other slaves. When a freedom fighter was caught, they were thrown into a prison cell baring a skull and crossbones. The guards would wait 3 days for them to die from starvation or dehydration.

The enormity of the castle is difficult to express. The one we visited in Elimina is the largest in the world. Between the giant fort walls lies a large two-story Catholic church built by the Portuguese. Years later during the Dutch occupation, the Dutch also built their own place of worship inside the castle. As we walked through the churches it was unsettling to feel the irony of religion in the middle of such sin.

The tour of the castle ended with the tour guide asking for us not to focus on the past injustices, but instead to use our energy to ensure humanity never again repeats such crimes against each other. He recited the following verse that is inscribed on the main wall.

IN EVERLASTING MEMORY
OF THE ANGUISH OF OUR ANCESTORS
MAY THOSE WHO DIED REST IN PEACE
MAY THOSE WHO RETURN FIND THEIR ROOTS
MAY HUMANITY NEVER AGAIN PERPETRATE
SUCH INJUSTICE AGAINST HUMANITY
WE THE LIVING VOW TO UPHOLD THIS

Pictures of the castle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26883529@N02/sets/72157606857168929/

Our work in Cape Coast - Money Talks

It’s hard to believe we only have a few weeks left in Ghana. The past month we have been enjoying our time in Cape Coast. Besides being a much bigger city, it is a larger volunteer location and production site. Our volunteer house is filled with 12 people of various ages from all over the world. We have volunteers from Japan, Scotland, China, Iceland, Canada, Nigeria, and the U.K. The cast of characters is completed by our housemaid, a talking bird, and a batty old security guard named, Appiah, who spends most of his time stealing our bread and practicing his aim with his homemade slingshot.

The office in Cape Coast is a much busier location with a retail shop below and a production office above. Women in Progress (WIP) employs 10 locals who manage the orders and ensure the items meet the quality standards before being exported. It is a complex process involving over 50 independent producers who must work together to complete the order on time (without email or normal forms of business communication!). It is amazing to think that just 5 years ago there were only 6 producers and a very small office. Now, WIP provides a source of income directly to 300 men and women and indirectly to over 1,000 more locals.

Our mission in Cape Coast is to ensure the wages are fair and to educate the women on distribution processes and costs of doing business. Over time, the producer’s morale has become a big issue for WIP. Many women feel they are not being paid fairly because they sell their goods for more money at the local tourist shops than WIP pays them to produce for export. They are also used to getting handouts from other organizations as a result of the foreign aid in Ghana. It has been intriguing to hear the women complain about WIP when we found they are making 4x’s the minimum wage. We figured the women would be happy about the growth of Global Mamas (and many are), but others feel like they should get a cut of the growth and don’t understand that there is very little profit for WIP. All of these morale problems directly impacts production delivery and quality, not to mention the WIP staff relations.

To educate the women on this issue, we’ve designed a presentation and role-playing game to illustrate WIP’s operational expenses and the difference between retail and wholesale prices. Ghanaian women are typically reserved, but become animated like Nigerian film stars when role-playing so we’re looking forward to some good entertainment. In the end, we hope that the education will improve morale and prevent women from leaving the program. The alternatives for supporting their families are few and a solid partnership is vital for WIP to continue to grow and reinvest in Ghana.

Here's a link to our pictures from our volunteer house and our time with the member's from Iowa's Lutheran Church of Hope!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26883529@N02/sets/72157606857568827/