By: Tariq Rasheed

My first week in Accra, Ghana was interesting, to say the least. Upon leaving my home on June 23rd, I was immediately met with a plethora of travel issues, this led to me arriving in Accra a whole two days after I was scheduled to, on June 26th at five o’clock in the morning. With little to no rest I was thrown into a week full of activities beginning with lectures at the University of Ghana. As the week went on we were able to experience various different activities that brought out ranging emotions. Visiting a school in Nima, being surrounded by young children who just want to be educated despite their surroundings was the first time out of my 3 days that I was able to really appreciate actually being in Ghana. We weren’t hidden from the parts of Accra that aren’t as developed as the capital, instead, we were dropped right into a struggling community, I appreciate seeing this place for what it is in its entirety.

Later in the week, we took a trip to Cape Coast, Ghana where we stayed for two days and toured the slave castles (more like dungeons). Visiting two slave castles and being in the same rooms as many of my ancestors before me, it made it real. We learn about the slave trade in America but it doesn’t compare to being there, it doesn’t evoke the emotions I felt being there; I felt extreme sadness, anger, and even fear being those castles, conflicted on how to deal with these emotions or how to express them. Being there made it real but I will never be able to understand the extreme pain and torture that my people before me had to endure.