so that we may avoid past mistakes and better our achievements

as i sit in my bungalow at the coconut grove beach resort in cape coast, i am for the first time today able to reflect upon my experience in elmina, a fishing town on the coast of ghana just 2 hours southwest of accra. emotion washes over me like the tide outside my window as it laps over the rocky beach, drowning each grain of sand inch by increasing inch. today i did not have the energy to demonstrate an outward physical response to our tour of cape coast castle and st. george's castle, gateways to the transatlantic slave trade in the late 18th century. it was not for absence of emotion but for lack of hydration that i was without tears.

we had been touring all morning. it was africa-hot and well into the 90s as we visited the castles in the mid-afternoon. "no other stretch of African coastline carries the scars of history as this one does. today the fortresses reveal some of the horrors of West Africa's past." during our tours of the castles, we peered into the dungeons, stood in the cells, and walked through "the door of no return." it was suffocating. the message that remains with me is that "we must never forget." our guides at both castles echoed the same mantras: no matter how difficult it is to talk about this, we must say it aloud to ensure we avoid our past mistakes.

perhaps the toughest part of this tour was the blatant juxtaposition of this once fortress of evil (now empty and hollow) with the splendor of the sea. you almost feel guilty standing atop the castle roof and marveling at the beauty of the landscape below.