Today was intense! We visited two of the five slave castles along the coast of Ghana. The dungens were dark, poorly ventalated, and each held up to 400 people (chained together) at a time. In the floor were carved shalow groves where all of the urine (and perhaps fecies) would flow through the cells and eventually drain into the sea. Food was thrown from a small hole high in the wall twice a day. Those who were able to fight for what megre portions they were given survived. Many died in the dungins from either starvation, sufication, poor sanitation, or suicide. If there was an uprising, the leaders were locked up in a pich-black cell and left to die slowly.
Now if you did make it through the months of this hell, you were hurded down an underground tunnel to "the dorr of no return." This is where the slave ships were loaded. Your destination remains a nightmare somewhere over the horizon.
The dungin walls smelled like salt and death...a smell that I will never forget. (My good friend here said she has only smelled that same smell in one other place: Auchuitz) Although it was horrifying to walk in history's foot steps, unlike the 40 million African slaves that were moved through theese castles durring that period...We did return.
Humanity holds the capacity to create such evil and hatred, as well as indescribable beauty and love. Memorials of such travisties are necessary in order to progress in peace and unity. I believe it is important to have your heart broken (as mine was today), for out of this rises compation.
I feel so blessed that you are all a part of my life.
love and light*
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