Finding Connections in Ghana
“Do we have everything? Are we prepared? Have we thought this through?”
These questions I overheard gave me pause as we waited on the bus, preparing to depart from Tete Cobblah’s home for Cape Coast. However, I considered the lyrics we sang together no more than an hour before…
We are going
Heaven knows where we are going,
We know we’re there
Remembering these words gave me strength, as I interpreted them to mean: Wherever we are, we are meant to be there.
Each member of our group arrived in Ghana with their own stories, histories, and emotions, and we would make meaning together, while supporting each other, on our journey.
Before we set off from Tete’s home, the Adinkra workshop gave us an opportunity to choose symbols to represent parts of our identity, parts of our story.
Eso ne tekrema: teamwork and collaboration
Akoko nan tia ba na enkum ba: Parenting, discipline, and love
Denkyem Mereku: work together to survive in unity
How we take meaning from these symbols differed for each of us. For me, building connections through moments of collaboration, as well as vulnerability, afforded us opportunities to grow closer to each other in the first few days of the trip. Parenting my daughter has opened my capacity for love immeasurably over the past 11 years. These Adinkra symbols grounded me in emotions I hold closest: joy through connection and parental love.
Creating meaning on our trip to Ghana has been both easy and challenging. The emotions we attach to the places-Accra, Koforidua, Kakum, Cape Coast, Anomabo- are what will stay with us long after we return to our home countries.
Each location represented much more than the experience: joyfully singing and dancing on our first day together, anxiously preparing to teach a mindfulness lesson to 5th graders at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, excitedly viewing the rainforest from above in Kakum National Forest, grieving those who suffered unspeakable acts of cruelty at Cape Coast, Elmina, and Donkor Nsuo.
We connected to the exuberance we felt above the trees at Kakum National Forest. The initial fear, the first step onto the narrow wooden bridges, the persevering across the void in the trees as sections helped grow our confidence and told us we could do this. Together we walked through the canopy and were no longer alone.
Unity in our group showed up while we demonstrated genuine caring for the well-being of each group member making it across; and even if there was some gentle teasing, it was done in the most loving way. We may never have been in any real danger, but we offered strength and encouragement to each member until we all celebrated our success together at the end of our canopy circuit.
That afternoon and the following day, I was speechless entering the dungeons at Cape Coast and Elmina, witnessing evidence of their horrific past. Entering the river at Donkor Nsuo connected us to the untold masses who had their “last baths” there. Our guide described the river bluff as the most painful place on the trans-Atlantic slave route, as families were torn apart and auctioned off. I couldn’t help but immediately think of my daughter, and the unimaginable and debilitating grief and anger any parent would feel if their child were taken right in front of my eyes, an action that was performed countless times on the riverbanks on which we stood.
I will be processing the emotions from this trip, and from these two days in particular, for weeks, and likely years, to come. As a school counselor, I support young teens in identifying and coping with their emotions, while providing the space for them to move through their feelings during their busy days.
I put pressure on myself as I feel that I must always have the answers for the parents, the teachers, and the administrators. Our Sankofa cohort has given me the grace to not always know the right way to respond, nor the right words to speak. I am eternally grateful for our group and the understanding, acts of kindness, and empathy they have generously given me each day.
Nicholas Reynolds is a School Counselor at Carroll School in Lincoln, Massachusetts, USA.