RCSD Staff and Community Members Commemorate Year of Return in Ghana
(September 24, 2019) A group of RCSD teachers and community members organized a trip to Ghana on their own time this summer to commemorate 400 years of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The group was led by RCSD teacher Abraham Steiner, who is a native of Ghana. The group arrived in Osu and was welcomed by its mayor, Nii Adjei Tawiah.
In order to gain firsthand knowledge of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the group toured various slave castles; Ghana had the most forts and castles used during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The group also attended a memorial service at St. Barnabas Anglican church and a wreath laying ceremony behind the Christiansborg Castle in memory of the ancestors who perished in the Middle Passage. Other visits included the W.E.B Dubois Centre for Pan African Culture, the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, and St. Thomas Aquinas High School, where the group engaged in two days of an educational workshop with students and staff, which included discussions on the college admission process, SAT and TOFEL exams, and the importance of scholarships, especially to athletic students. During their visit to the School for the Deaf, they donated school supplies and engaged in dialogue with the school administrators and staff about the differences between American Sign Language and British Sign Language. The group ended their visit with a tour of Aqua Safari resort in Ada on the banks of Lake Volta, which is the biggest manmade lake in the world.
Experiences like these allow teachers to provide students with firsthand culturally relevant instruction as well as create opportunities for students to experience African culture. Monroe High School teacher Jacqueline McClaney said, “I would like to thank Mr. Steiner for coordinating a historically enriched magnificent trip to Ghana. When one’s history has been distorted, it is an overwhelming revelation of self when you personally experience the truth. I would love to share the powerful experience with my students.”