We spend the morning at the college meeting some of the students who have been sponsored in the past and updating their profiles. Its good to find that most of them are doing well. Some are off sick which is a shame, but hopefully we can catch up with them next week. A man from the forestry commission stops by. He has some responsibility for understanding about plants that might grow in the area, and my school friend who is a plant pathologist is really pleased to meet him.
She and I then leave to drive to Cape Coast to visit the slave castle, built initially by the Portuguese, then briefly owned by the Swedes, lost to the Danes and then finally completely buit by the English. About 1500 slaves could be held underground there for between 2 weeks and 3 months, before boats would come to take them to the West Indies. The conditions were truely awful, and compounded by the founding of the first Anglican Church directly above the area the men were held. Of course, there were tribes people who made money from selling their enemies to the British, but the industrial scale on which we made this happen is fairly horrendous. The 1807 AntiSlavery Act made a difference, but there were illegal slave shipments into the 1830s. It is not a jolly place to go, but if you are to understand Ghana, it is a place that I think should be visited.
After a visit to the attached craft market, we headed off for a hotel where the main features are a swimming pool and a lake containing crocodiles. Not to be confused, I would suggest.
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