Journal Entry 25: Ghana Gone Gangsta

You’d be surprised how quickly my mood changed after leaving Cape Coast Castle. When I originally went in, a young Ghanaian man took notice of my bracelet (with my name on it) and started asking me how to spell my name. He then started talking about some soccer team, which I wasn’t paying much attention to because I was trying to get mentally prepared for what I was about to see. I ignored him and walked into the castle. I thought this would be my last encounter with this young man; unfortunately, it wasn’t.

After I came out from the castle, he came up to me with a shell in his hand. “Ayy, Zakiyyah! Look what I made for you!” He handed me a shell that said “Zakiyyah, hope you have a great time in Cape Coast”. I smiled and said thank you. “All you have to do” he continued as me and my friend looked at each other, “is donate 20 cedis to our soccer team”. “Twenty Cedis?” I replied in a “you must be high” tone. “Sorry—I don’t have any money.” He wasn't giving up. “Or whatever you have is fine, whatever you can give”. My friend that was with me started saying “they tried to do that to me the last time—don’t give them any money. Let’s go”. The man got upset with her because he saw her trying to talk me out of giving him money (that he wasn’t going to get in the first place). As we were trying to walk away, he yelled behind us “Fine! FUCK YOU—and your little bitch ass friend! Take that little bitch with you”. He followed behind my friend and said, “Next time you do that, I’m going to take my fingers and poke your eyes out and put the devil in you!”. One of the other members of the soccer team grabbed my friend’s hand as we were walking away and she jerked it off. Apparently they got even angrier when they saw us laughing, unable to take their threats seriously, so they can continued to cuss at us as we walked away and onto our van. “What an experience to have--a nice welcome home” we reflected, laughing at our first hood experience in Ghana.