Besides visiting Kakum National Forest while in Cape Coast, we also made a visit to Elmina Castle. The castle was built by the Portuguese in 1482. The Portuguese originally came here for the gold. The word Elmina means the mine. In 1637 the Dutch seized the castle and took over the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. By this time the coastal African tribes were bringing people, captured mostly from Northern tribes, to sell as slaves. The slaves were kept in the fort until they were shipped out. The English took control in 1872, and the Gold Coast was part of the British Empire until 1957 when the Gold Coast was granted independence and renamed itself Ghana.
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| Interior Courtyard of Elmina Castle |
The center structure was a church. One American tourist couldn't believe people dealing in slave trade would go to church. Officers lived on the upper floor. Dungeons and prisons were often filled to capacity with no sanitary facilities for their use.
Another view of the interior of the castle. This is at the opposite end from the church..
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| The Door of No Return |
This is the door the slaves went through to get into the fishing boats that took them to the ships for their long voyage to a strange land (or a watery grave along the way).
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| View from the top |
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| Looking out toward the ocean |
The building in the background is Elmina Fort. The yellow bridge crosses over the lagoon to the Elmina fishing village.
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| Fishing boats |
It had rained the day we were there and the skies were beautiful.
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| Looking across the lagoon |
The wooden fishing boats are much the same now as they would have been
when they loaded them up with slaves to take out to the larger ships.
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| Crossing over the bridge into Elmina |
The brightly colored fishing boats and the busy market area were bustling and busy.
One of my favorite scenes occurred not far from here. On this busy
street a young boy, maybe six years old, was standing by a bucket of
water taking his bath. He was totally lathered up with suds and wore
the most radiant smile as he joyfully scrubbed himself all over with the
bath cloth. He practically danced as he washed!
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| The Elmina Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meets here. |
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| Interior of the rented church building |
We attended church at the Elmina Branch on Sunday. I thought it was interesting and had a certain charm about it with the balcony.
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| Before church |
We stayed for fast and testimony meeting and part of Sunday School. We are often asked to bear our testimonies when we visit a different ward.
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| Sister Smith with Brother and Sister Appiah |
For the second half of church we drove to Thomas Appiah's ward. Thomas is the Assistant Area Auditor in Cape Coast. He is a long time member of the church and was present when Elder Haight dedicated Ghana for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in 1983. He has served in many callings, including bishop and stake president.
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| Robert and Thomas Appiah |
Brother Appiah invited us to his home on Friday evening to discuss the Saturday training. He has a very nice home. It was the first Ghanian home we had been invited to. He and his wife have eight children. Four of them are living in the United States.
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| Saturday Training |
Elder Davis, the area seventy, kindly shared the time with us and
Brother Appiah during his quarterly coordinating council meeting with
stake and district presidencies and the mission presidency.
As area auditors, we track the training of all new stake and district presidencies done by our AAAs. It is important that they be trained in the first few months of being called so they can follow correct procedures as they handle the sacred funds of the Church. Getting this training done can be a challenge with transportation issues and the busy schedules of the newly called leaders.
