I AM having lunch in Abidjan and thinking about how every day on the continent of Africa is an adventure in a profound and powerful way that is not easy to put into words. So many things to write about and a challenge as to where to start. My encounter with a beautiful Ghanian woman in Abidjan convinced me to start with my visit to the historic Elmina Castle. We were chatting about my trip to Ghana and I told her the highlight was visiting  Elmina Castle.

My visit to Elmina Castle was very emotional, a day I will never forget. I could not hold back the tears while standing in the dark dungeons.

Elmina Castle was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, so it is the oldest European building in existence in sub-Saharan Africa. Elmina is also a picturesque fishing town along Ghana’s coast, not far from Cape Coast. It is home to one of Ghana’s biggest attractions, St George’s Castle. Built by the Portuguese in 1482, it was captured by the Dutch 150 years later and became the headquarters of their West Indies Company for the following 250 years. Imagine something so heinous that happened over 500 years ago can alter the way we think.

Slaves soon replaced gold exports, and the tours through the dungeons will give you a good idea of how gruesome a trade it was. The castle houses a small museum and guided tours are available. The stark beauty of the white-washed Castle walls contrasts deeply with this place’s dark history. We both shared what we felt through the tour and although I am from Guyana and she is from Ghana, we experienced similar emotions. She said something to me after saying she was happy we crossed paths and needed to stay in touch and I agreed that we should.

She said something with such conviction that day that penetrated my heart.”Sonia, I never knew what real hatred felt like until I walked through Elmina Castle! It was not just what she said, but the way she said those words. My friend Kweku Eshu organised my castle tour and asked how he felt.

“This was not my first time at the enslaved castle for Africans. The feeling is always the same as the first time. In the abyss of the human soul, something tells us that this event in the history of mankind was absolutely wrong”

We were blessed to have  Osagyefor Kwame Nkrumah as our tour guide and he was exceptional. He was not just repeating history but was connected to it. I noticed the pause to compose himself throughout the tour and wondered if it would become easier after four years, so I asked him.

“It never gets easier at all when you see the tears run down from the eyes of Africans. It feels like they have lost themselves and as I tell the history from the crust of my blackness, I have this feeling that I’m strengthening the sons and daughters of Africa who were lost. It makes my heart get tender like a father receiving his lost son.  I always pray to the spirits of the ancestors. That as they touched the horrific walls of the dungeons as they were being dragged  and whipped and when they pain and the blood spills on the walls, then the walls should have spoken on our behalf. It is quite unfortunate that the walls do not have lips to narrate to us, the pain and the agony of our ancestors.

Therefore, I open my soul and mind for them to pour out what they want to tell their lost children.  So when I’m delivering our history, I feel possessed with anger and hatred.  But they find a way to balance my spirit because they want us to come together as Africans and reunite, build and strengthen mother Africa to take back what was taken from her when she was so lenient and warm with others.

So when I stand tall on my feet, I feel that I’m standing in the midst of our fathers and mothers and I become a vessel.”
Osagyefor Kwame Nkrumah: “I am not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me “
Let’s preach our history. That is our heritage and tool of strength.

I quote Marcus Garvey:  “ A generation or a people without their history is like a tree without its roots, it is easy to [be] carried away by the slightest wind that blows.”
I quote W.E.B Dubois ( it will be better for Africans in the diaspora to come back to Africa to build where they were taken from than to fight for equality on a strange land.”

I had an extended conversation with this very impressive tour guide and I can’t wait to read his book in the future and I encourage you to follow Quame Afrocentric on FB and Instagram.
One of the persons I remembered on this tour was my friend Ayana McCalman, who was so touched after her trip a few years ago she hosted an event to share her story when she returned to Guyana.

“It was a transformative experience in every way; spiritually, emotionally. It touched me at the core of my being, and I believe it set the stage for a lot of the transformation and shift that I experienced and has led me to the faith journey where I am now. So for me, going to El Menia was one of those life-changing experiences that shifted me to the core,” she said.

Standing at the Door of no Return (pic above) did something to me that I will amplify in my next column as we continue to celebrate this because journey called Life BEYOND THE RUNWAY.