I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about today. To say it was powerful doesn’t even begin to describe the imposing structure known as Cape Coast Castle. 400 years ago, the first slaves were ripped from their families, held captive in another castle, branded, shackled, and sold to the highest bidder. Let this sink in. Human beings were bought and sold. Among the things they lost: their families, their homes, their names, their language, their religion. I could go on. They were taken to the castle, thrown in a dungeon where as many as 200 men (or women) were “stored” until such time as the ship came to take them away. This dungeon is about the size of my bedroom. The floor is covered with a solidified mixture of blood, urine, and feces. A team has gone into one of the dungeons and chiseled away so that you can see the original brick floor. Just above the dungeon was the chapel where the white men worshipped. Think about that. How can you worship God and keep other human beings captive under the floor of the church, then sell them for profit? I am still struggling with that part of the day.
This morning we started off with morning prayers. That was really lovely, then we went to the Cathedral and had a service with Bishop Victor and his staff. They didn’t have musical instruments but one of the men would sing through the hymn then we would join in. Just beautiful. After that we got our itinerary for the week. We watched the man make the communion wafers for Bishop Victor. It is just pastry flour and water, poured into a very thin layer on a sort of waffle iron, then cut out in the appropriate sizes. We got to sample some of the unblessed wafers.
We had lunch at the same restaurant as yesterday. We ordered a ham and cheese sandwich, but the guy said they didn’t have that. We looked at the menu and ordered a cheese and ham sandwich, so that’s what we ate. Cheese and ham, NOT ham and cheese.
I’m still amazed by the children. We were entertained by some boys on the beach today who were doing acrobatics. They passed around a bowl for money when they finished. Other children are forced to sell things.
It has been a breathtaking day. I need to decompress.
Humans selling other humans. It happens today and we need to stop it. Children are being exploited every day and it is going to take more than distributing soap to stop it.
Let’s work together.
Dr. Suzanne Minarcine 