Visting Grandma's House

Kofi and I at Kakum National Park on the Canopywalk

My Cousins

Harvesting Plantain (Left to Right: Auntie Theresa, Auntie Agatha and Grandma)

Plantain!

Kofi helping my Auntie Josphine pound fufu

Frying plantain

Breakfast :)

Kofi, Grandma and I

Left to Right: Auntie Josephine, Auntie Theresa, Kofi, Anthony, Maame Ekuwa, Grandma, Me, Auntie Joanna and Auntie Agatha

Elmina Castle

Cape Coast Castle

The weekend after my birthday I travelled with my Dad and brother to Anomabo again and spent a night with my Auntie Mary and her two youngest children Efua and Kofi Essuman (my Auntie Mary was born on a Friday too so between them and us...it was a house full of Friday-borns). The next morning we went to church. My Dad attends the Seventh-day Adventist Church and they are Saturday worshipers so around 9:00 am we walked to church, which meant climbing up and down small hills and walking along a path for about 10 minutes while passing goats, chickens and pigs. The church (I didn't think to bring my camera) was a huge concrete structure with no fan or air conditioning (we had worked up a serious sweat by the time we reached the church because at 9:00 am it already felt like 30 degrees) and there were only about 15 or so members in the congregation. The entire 3-hour service was in Fante (the local dialect) and so naturally Kofi and I STRUGGLED to stay awake, but I enjoyed what I was awake for :P. Ghana, I have found, is VERY religious and although I don't consider myself very religious it is inspiring to see people have such a deep faith.
After church we returned to my Auntie's house, changed out of our church clothes and set off for Kakum National Park. The park is named after a river that runs through the remains of the only tropical rainforest in West Africa. It houses several rare and endangered species and to tour the park you walk along a series of narrow bridges in the forest canopy. The bridges are 130 feet high and were actually built by 6 Ghanians and 2 Canadians (woot woot!) in 1960. Apparently the bridges are strong enough to carry the weight of 2 elephants but it certainly didn't feel like it. To get up to the canopy we (I went with my 2 cousins and Kofi) had to climb up the side of a mountain; there were built-in stairs in the mountain side and it probably took 10 minutes at the most to get to the top, but to me it felt like at least 25 minutes. We were all sweating buckets by the time we got to the top, however it was totally worth it because the view alone was incredible. We didn't see any cool animals....a lot of them are nocturnal so the guide warned us we probably wouldn't see any but it was so fun walking along the canopy bridges! The Kakum National Park is another must see/experience in Ghana.
After the canopywalk we went back to my Auntie's house for a late lunch/early dinner of fufu. It was delicious of course and then my Dad drove Kofi and I to my Grandma's house where my Aunties Agatha and Theresa (from Tema) were staying for the weekend. This was the first time Kofi and I were visitng my Grandma at her home and my Auntie Joanna (one of my Mom's sisters who lives in Cape Coast) was also there waiting to meet us for the first time. I know I've mentioned before the nice feeling of visiting my family and seeing my baby pictures there and just feeling so welcome and 'at home'.....well my Grandma's house was no different. In the past when I've met my Grandma (she has visited us at least 2 or 3 times) she has always been very quiet and our conversations have always been somewhat limited because of the language barrier. She can understand English but my Mom explained that my Grandma gets nervous thinking she won't understand me when I start to speak (because I speak so fast) and so she freezes up a bit, and then doesn't take in anything I say, making conversations a bit difficult. When Kofi and I arrived at her house, I can tell you I have never seen my Grandma so happy and excited. She was talking a mile a minute saying over and over: "By the grace of God Efua and Kofi are finally home! Efua and Kofi in Cape Coast! I cannot believe it! Welcome! Akwaaba!" (which means welcome in Fante). She kept hugging us and of course brought out baby pictures, and served us food. Keep in mind Kofi and I were stuffed from the fufu we had just before leaving Anomabo so my Grandma brought us something "small", it was a plate full of fried chicken, jollof rice, french fries, vegetables, plantain....the plate was overflowing and this was something small. It was so nice visting with her, and also meeting my Auntie Joanna and her youngest son (of 3 sons) Anthony. We chatted for a few hours and then went to bed. The next morning we hung out in my Grandma's backyard where she has a small farm. She has plantain trees, sugar cane, chickens, fresh spinach and some other vegetation. Kofi and I were lucky enough to be visting during a time where she was harvesting some of her plantain! She and my Aunties used this giant machete to chop at the branches and pluck the stalks of plantain from the tree....it was very impressive. My Grandma definitely wins the Farmer of the Year Award with her bountiful crops and my Auntie Theresa wins Harvester of the Year Award with her use of the machete. That morning my Auntie Joanna stopped by again with her sons Anthony and Jude (her eldest son is studying at St. Augustine's High School, the school my Dad attended and where my Mom grew up) and my Mom's fourth sister my Auntie Josephine stopped by with her youngest of 2 daughters Maame Ekuwa. It was my first time meeting them as well and for the first time I was with all of my Mom's sisters! I wish my Mom had been there of course, it was wonderful seeing them together! After harvesting some plantain my Grandma took some eggs from her farm and along with my Auntie Agatha they prepared a nice breakfast with sausage, eggs, toast (the bread in Ghana....I'm going to do my best to bring some back....is thicker and sweeter and better) and some freshly harvested deep fried plantain (courtesy of my Auntie Theresa). It was all amazing!
After breakfast my Dad picked us up and took us to visit the Elmina and Cape Coast Slave Castles. We visited the Elmina Slave Castle first; it is 529 years old and absolutely beautiful. For the history lovers it (and Cape Coast Castle) are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and are so worth seeing I cannot stress it enough. Elmina Castle was first built by the Portugese in the 15th century and was used as a place to sell and trade gold, silver and other tools and goods. After a couple hundred years the castle was attacked by the Dutch who then took control of the Castle and ran the slave trade from the castle. The Dutch also built the Cape Coast Castle which is just over 300 years old. When the European slave trade began to pick up speed the Elmina Castle had quickly changed from a place of trading goods, into a place to auction and sell slaves, hold in dungeons, and ship off to Europe and the Americas. In both castles Kofi and I toured the dungeons, the holding cells, the governor's quarters and the point of no return. The dungeons still smelled and were very dark with little to no ventilation. It was very interesting to see...it was like a museum but instead of fake exhibits or pictures, you were right there standing in one of the dark 8x10 dungeons where over 200 slaves truly were once chained and forced to eat (once or twice a day), sleep, urinate etc for 2 or 3 months before being shipped off. Another thing that struck me was that both castles had small museums and in addition to the exhibits of the history of Ghana and the slave trade, there were exhibits about Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. etc. It dawned on me I guess the real meaning of African American history because their history really is the same history. I wasn't expecting to see anything 'American' but Africans, Ghanians at least, see the history of the Civil Rights Movement as an extension of their history....which it is, all of those leaders were descendants of the people that were captured and sold as slaves from Cape Coast. Visiting the castles really put things in perspective for me and made slavery seem more real and not a concept I learned in school. I also loved the architecture of the castles, not only in Ghana but all over Europe and in any former colony, the old buildings are stuning...they knew how to build back in the day. It was a packed weekend! Afterwards we went back to Accra to get ready for our last week at the hospital...