July 23

Today was a tourist day. We began in a National Park of preserved rainforest with catwalk bridges in the canopy of huge trees. The park was very well kept and it was encouraging to see how many natural species of plants and animals are being cared for. All over Africa, environmental conservation is an issue, and it is good to see that the Ghanaian government is making an effort on this. I hope this value is being instilled in Ghanaians, not just in the tourists. The tour guide walked us through the pharmacy that is the rainforest floor. There are plans for everything from asthma cure to glue. On top of eco preservation, it is also good to see so much traditional knowledge being preserved.

We then visited the “crocodile restaurant”. It is a large patio in the middle of a pond inhabited by crocodiles, which you can see swimming in the water and sunning themselves on the bank. We watched a woman feed them with a piece of raw chicken on a long stick, while a group of school children posed for pictures. Obviously, there is an attempt to keep students informed about ecopreservation.

Then we drove to Cape Coast Castle; an impressive white washed structure that looks very similar to the castle I visited in Cuba two years ago. This makes sense because they would have been built around the same time for the same colonial purpose.

Of course, the most striking feature was the dungeon.  They’ve left it dank and dark and completely devoid of any defining features.  As the article “dungeon tourism” had said, it leaves more room for the imagination. But the imagery was clear and you couldn’t help but imagine the smell and the cramped conditions as the prisoners were literally piled in on top of eachother. The most disturbing part was the condemned chamber where the trouble makers were left to die. Even today with the room clean and the door left open, the room is suffocating.

When the tour is over, they conveniently lead you through the art gallery and the gift shop, which caused noticeable disgust for everyone. It’s difficult to think of spending money on souvenirs after such a dark experience. But as the Dungeon tourism article says, it is still a tourist attraction and there are still people who need to make a living off of the tourist traffic Marketing such a terrible piece of history is sucha delicate act, but it is a piece of history that should not be forgotten.

We sat outside on the rocks and were followed by a group of children selling water. The smallest girl was named Philomina, who asked a lot of questions, and the other three were all named Elizabeth.  12 year old Elizabeth said she wanted to come to Canada with me and be a student in my school and she giggled when I said that her parents and siblings would miss her too much. Philamina was playing with my empty Fanta can and threw it down the hill when she was done with it. Beth retrieved it and explained that we get in trouble for littering in Canada. The children all agreed that litter does stink and it doesn’t look very nice. Is this encouraging critical thinking or just imposing western values? I offered my Canadian pencils to the girls and they disappeared immediately.

At 4:30pm we were seated in the castle courtyard and treated to a performance from a local Asafo regiment. The Fanti people of this region had a tradition of warrior fraternities that predated colonialism. These fraternities did their membership through patrilineal descent (odd, as everything else is matrilineal) and were used as military and navy during times of war, but also for disaster aid for things like fires. Naturally, the British exploited these warrior organizations for their own use when they arrived.

There were several elements of the ensemble that were different from other ensembles that we’ve seen so far. First of all is their dress. The men wore robes they way they might wear a kente cloth, only it was white with black shapes and yellow red and green strips on it. It reminded me of Canadian aboriginal designs from back home.

There were two women in the troop and they led the singing, which I have never seen before. The announcer explained that one of their pieces was traditionally for women, as it features rattle which can double as a gourd to carry water to the men in times of war. However, the women lead all 4 songs and I wondered if this was specific to this group or a normal feature of Fante performance. The singing itself was more tonal and involved much more harmony than other groups we’ve heard. Again, I wonder if this is a function of culture or specific to this ensemble.

Other features included very large metal bells, a drum sporting carved breasts. This was also the first group I’ve seen to use spoken word and theatre as part of the performance.