Photograph February #7

February is Black History Month, and I’d be remiss if I ended the month without addressing that. Of all the places I’ve visited, none has more to do with my black history than Ghana does. Back in February of last year I made a post about “Experiencing Ghana” and its history that you’re welcomed to read, if you’re interested.

Ghana, though mostly unwillingly, has played a huge role in the history of slavery and separation in this country. The bitterness and resentment of that period have not only been woven into our nation’s history but have also taken root in the realities of our daily lives. Admittedly our history is sometimes inconvenient and ugly but trying to ignore or deny our past will not change it or make it go away. In the same way banning books and stripping black history from school curriculums will not change or conceal what’s in one’s heart, but only serves to keep us ignorant and uninformed. History is important, it informs us about the past no matter how painful or unflattering, and hopefully it will inspire a younger generation and those of us who want to be better, to do better. But even more importantly, we hope it stirs feelings of empathy, and a more enlightened sense of right and wrong which hopefully sets a standard for things not to be repeated. There is truth in the saying, “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

That was the intention of our school trip to Ghana in 2014. Its main purpose was to give our children, a hands-on experience of the country’s history and the origins of its footprints in the history of our country. While it was painful seeing the dark side of Ghana with its castles and dungeons (feature and picture below) where Africans to be sold as slaves were held as captives in chains, it became clearer to us the ordeals and conditions our ancestors had to endure and instilled in us an understanding that we can’t afford to be complacent or indifferent to issues of race and inequality. Thankfully, on the upside, we also got to experience the beauty, warmth and resilience of the Ghanaian people and their culture.

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