Times are changing

Last night i got some good news: i am going to visit a cocoa farm tomorrow! I will leave Kumasi tomorrow morning, still waiting for information on where we will go, with a representative from Kuapa Kokoo and a driver. I am really looking forward to this! Finally i get to meet the people i have wanted to see for so long and already have written two essays about. This morning i prepared the questions...
I then decided to go to Kumasi Fort, which i have been meaning to do for a while, but just did not get around to it. It is said to be the oldest building in the city, parts of it is from 1820. The fort as it looks like today is from 1897 though. The British transported material from the coast up to Kumasi. In 1900 there was a rebellion by the Ashanti, an ethnic group from this region, which resulted in that 31 British were trapped inside the walls for many weeks before they escaped. The leader of the Ashanti, a woman, was put in prison (at the fort) for a week before she was sent to the Seychelles, where she later died. They let us go into the cells, which was basically a tiny room meant for ten women and another one meant for 20 men. We were six going in in the women's department, and we could fit, but i dont see how another four would have fit in there. Prisoners were sent to this place, and they would not come out alive. It does not end there. Ten women were sent in. No food or water were given to them. No air circulation, part from a small hole in the door. When one died, they did not remove that person. When all were dead, they were removed... Same thing in the male department, but there they were 20, not ten people. Inside the fort is a Armed Forces Museum, and so i got to see that too. I had no idea Ghanaians had participated in wars all over Africa and even in Asia; Libya, Rwanda, Cambodia... In fact, the fort has also worked as a training ground for Ghanaian soldiers. The British tought them how to become good soldiers, fighting alongside the British... But they were not allowed to wear boots... Until some leader decided it was ok for the Ghanaians to wear boots on Mondays and Fridays that is. Being the only Ubruni during the tour, i sometimes felt awkward.
They wanted me to pay if i wanted to take pictures so i decided not to, i thought i could take some from the outside, but when a man started annoying me, wanting to talk to me, giving me lectures about the Ghanaian way i thought it was better to get out of there. Not the moment to pull out a camera. I did not get good vibes. A taxi driver even interrupted, trying to "rescue me", from this guy who obviously was after my money after having guided me. With or without my conscent.
I also saw a part of the famous Kejetia market, which supposedly is the largest market in West Africa. I had no desire to enter it. One should enter that place with a guide, it's huge!
It's been a good day. And i found chocolate yesterday, yum!! ..and peanuts, really tasty. Time to eat i think, there is a place next to where i am staying, called something like The Bulldog, how could i resisit that place?:)
Oh and the journalist and the reporter are on their way to Accra! Probably i'll hear from them tonight when they have landed.
I'll let you know later how things went at the cocoa farm!