Recently I had the privilege of meeting with two sisters to talk about their recent trip to Ghana, and they were kind enough to let me go through their pictures to find a story for the blog. I spent a great morning looking through travel photos and was immediately fascinated by the ones with a stately white stone building, ocean view, and this inscription:
Elmina Castle: this place has quite a history, but what caught my attention was what the two sisters told me:
(Italics are what they said, following is my response)
Where is this photo? Ghana, Africa – the Slave Castle. Slaves were brought there for a holding place in the 18th century, held and then transported to other places. It was operated as a slave castle for several hundred years. The place was so beautiful, but what went on for so long was dark and horrifying.
“Wow. When I looked at the place I thought at first it was just another beautiful building, but then I saw its dark history, and what is so beautiful to us was the place of the end of their lives as they knew it.”
I
In these stones I see the blood of beaten slaves, the despair of mothers with children, the fear of an unknown future and places, and bondage. What began as a place of protection now became a place of slavery.
“It was only a little way from the ocean with a gorgeous view, but it wasn’t there for them.”
“What blew me away was the area underground, where the slaves were held. They would be in prison there and just above them church services were held in the courtyard. It was like the difference between heaven and hell, in more ways than just spiritually. On one level were people trapped in awful darkness and circumstance, and above them the free people lived in another place, a heaven.”
Slavery. It’s still happening today.
Photos taken by an anonymous team, 2013 and used with permission by The Difference Academy.
Sketch by: Lynette