Blogpost for January 29th 2019
Today we started off the day by heading to a local light house in Accra. When we arrived we found out that the James town light house was under renovation so we couldn’t see it so we quickly had to improvise. The nearby James Fort, now used for prison but still accessible to the public, was also locked, and the staff with the keys was very absent. Luckily there was a local man, Daniel Addo, was willing to show us some significant landmarks in the area that were related to the Atlantic slave trade.
We then moved to and adjacent building to the James Fort, where the colonial masters lived and sold slaves.
It’s now used as a gym where a lot of famous boxers such a Azumah Nelson have trained. The gym was very interesting because under the gym there was the entrance to the slave dungeons that were connected to Fort James.
The dungeon, now blocked, has only the opening and part of the dungeon still accessible. Used to lead to the James Fort through which slaves were shipped abroad.
A very interesting juxtaposition of young people playing basketball over a very historic site right under them.
Afterwards we went to lunch at a restaurant owned by a family of David, and Ole.
The family had hosted last year interim Ghana at the same place. It was buffet style and it featured all the traditional Ghanaian dishes.
We also got to meet up with the other Olaf group in Ghana. This group was made up of 5 computer science majors that were collaborating with students from a liberal arts college, Asheshi, to make a math app to help students in Ghana learn how to do addition in a more effective way. It was fun to share stores and catch up with campus friends.
After lunch we went back to the Pink hostel with the other group so they could quickly use the WiFi, the bathroom and grab some water before they headed on their way. Sadly the other group is leavening tonight so we will not be able to meet up with them again.
The rest of the day was spent taking naps and relaxing until dinner. Dinner was very good and all of us went to sleep happy