Axim, Shama, Elmina, Butre, Cape Coast, Usshertown, Osu… Places that sealed the destiny of million of people. Places of agony, of abuse, of torture, of death. Coastal gateways of the transatlantic slave trade.

Visiting these colonial forts is gripping, troubling. One cannot help but feel disgust at the exploitation of humans by humans, by our own kind.

The memory of suffering has haunted these gaols for centuries. Yet, outside back in the sunlight, a miracle occurs – the ordinary, disorganised, loud, buzzing lives of the fishing communities who have always inhabited these lands unfolds naturally, unfazed by the significance of the place. The energy of life taking revenge on tragedy.

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” – Frederick Douglass