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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Letter of the Day
Site etched with sorrow
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Lloyd Axworthy's article An eternity for colonialism's ghosts (May 8), on slave transport from Elmina Castle and Cape Coast in Ghana, resonated with me. Some years ago, I too visited this site and was moved by the heartbreak and sorrow etched into the walls of the "holding tanks" for human suffering found in the lower levels.
Beautiful and whitewashed on the outside, Elmina Castle houses horrific memories on the inside. I was particularly moved by the lintel over the entrance to the long jetty leading to the slave traders' boats -- a lintel titled "Gate of No Return."
My guide pointed to some of the blue-eyed and brown- or even blond-haired residents of Cape Coast as a thread back to those Europeans who had "mingled" with the women about to be shipped on the slave boats. The names too reflected this thread.
I was in Ghana for a very short time to train peacekeepers from the region. This excursion to Cape Coast was a reminder of why we need to be vigilant, why we need to consciously protect the vulnerable and why we need to conscientiously work at stopping the human rights abuses that threaten our humanity today.
JUDITH DUECK
Winnipeg
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 9, 2012 A13
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