Wow... Welcome to Accra

Today at orientation we were blessed enough to have a previous mayor of Accra (also a professor of one of my courses I intend to take here) come in to talk to us about the history of Accra and also to take us on a tour around the city.

Accra started as a small village with a very strategic location. Due to the fact that geographically Accra had very few resources, it thrived off the fact that it was strategically located for trade with the west coast. Below you will see a photo of an old dutch slave traders home, one of the few thats original structure still stands...well sort of stands. Due to erosion over time, as well as earthquakes, the structure no longer has a roof and many of the walls on the opposing side have crumbled. the structure itself is built out of the rocks that the dutch kept at the bottom of their ships as a tool to weigh down and steady the ships on their way over. When they arrived to Accra, the rocks were removed from the ships and the weight was replaced by human cargo, more commonly known as slaves.  The wall you see, just behind the little boys, makes a circle in which the slaves would stand as they were auctioned off to buyers. It is safe to say that it was an emotional place to be standing so many years later.

The house now serves as a home to a large Ghanaian family, who really just look to be squatters there. The two little boys that greeted us as we entered were just the cutest things in the world. They pranced around jumping up and down around our feet while in a sing song voice repeating the phrase "How are you?", clearly all they knew how to say.

This little guy grabbed onto my skirt and followed me as we were walking out, singing over and over "how are you?".
I melted.

From the back of the dutch slave house this was the view. There is a large fishing community in Accra, as you can see. The boats are all on the shore because it is tuesday and tuesdays are set aside to worship the god of the sea and mend fishing nets.