PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
US First Lady visits former slave castle
Cape Coast, Ghana (PANA) - The First Lady of the United States of America, Melania Trump, on Wednesday visited Cape Coast, about 200 kms west of Accra, Ghana, where she paid a courtesy call on the paramount chief of the area and attended a brief ceremony in her honour before visiting the Cape Coast Castle, one of several forts where slaves were kept before being shipped to the Americas.
The state-owned Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the short but colorful ceremony, took place at the Obama Hall of the Emintsimadze Palace in Cape Coast, named after former US President of the United States, Barack Obama, who visited the Palace and the Castle in 2009.
The paramount chief, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, and his entourage, clad in full traditional regalia with colorful kente cloth, waited as Mrs Trump was ushered in by a flute-playing team.
She was presented with a bouquet by seven-year-old Afia Boakye-Yiadom.
Osabarima Kwesi Atta II welcomed the US First Lady to Cape Coast and to the Palace. He briefed her on the Central Region, whose capital is Cape Coast, and its people, and said her visit would draw the people of Ghana and the United States together.
He also noted that Mrs Trump's visit to the Cape Coast Castle, a source of tourism for the region, would bring her face to face with the history of the slave trade.
She thanked her hosts for the warm welcome, describing them as beautiful and warm people.
At the Cape Coast Castle, she was taken round the various places and ended up at the "Door of No Return", which was where the slaves, who had been kept in dungeons, walked through to be sent to waiting ships on the Atlantic Ocean and sent to the Americas.
She described the slave trade as a tragedy and said the emotion of what she saw would remain with her.
Mrs Trump who arrived in Ghana on Tuesday morning on the first leg of a four-nation Africa tour, leaves on Thursday morning.
On Tuesday, she visited the Greater Accra Regional Hospital where she made some donations and interacted with mothers and children.
She donated a phototherapy machine to be used in the treatment of neonatal jaundice in babies and gifts to mothers and children at the Child Welfare Clinic of the Hospital, also called Ridge Hospital. The gifts included sanitary pads, teddy bears, diapers and other toiletries.
The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Emmanuel Srofenyo, said although they already have some of the machines, the model donated by the US First Lady is one of the best in the world.
“This is going to add to the number of phototherapy equipment that we have which is going to go a long way in saving the lives of babies who develop complication of jaundice during the neonatal period,” Dr Srofenyo said.
Her African trip, which would also take her to Malawi, Kenya and Egypt, comes five months after she launched her ‘Be Best’ campaign which demands she travels to meet with children all over the world in a bid to promote successful organisations and programmes that share her goal and work closely with the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
First Lady Trump revealed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that “October 2 will mark the first day of my solo visit to four beautiful and very different countries in Africa – Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt – all of which have worked alongside USAID and our partners to make great progress in overcoming some of their biggest challenges”.
-0- PANA MA/VAO 3Oct2018
The state-owned Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the short but colorful ceremony, took place at the Obama Hall of the Emintsimadze Palace in Cape Coast, named after former US President of the United States, Barack Obama, who visited the Palace and the Castle in 2009.
The paramount chief, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, and his entourage, clad in full traditional regalia with colorful kente cloth, waited as Mrs Trump was ushered in by a flute-playing team.
She was presented with a bouquet by seven-year-old Afia Boakye-Yiadom.
Osabarima Kwesi Atta II welcomed the US First Lady to Cape Coast and to the Palace. He briefed her on the Central Region, whose capital is Cape Coast, and its people, and said her visit would draw the people of Ghana and the United States together.
He also noted that Mrs Trump's visit to the Cape Coast Castle, a source of tourism for the region, would bring her face to face with the history of the slave trade.
She thanked her hosts for the warm welcome, describing them as beautiful and warm people.
At the Cape Coast Castle, she was taken round the various places and ended up at the "Door of No Return", which was where the slaves, who had been kept in dungeons, walked through to be sent to waiting ships on the Atlantic Ocean and sent to the Americas.
She described the slave trade as a tragedy and said the emotion of what she saw would remain with her.
Mrs Trump who arrived in Ghana on Tuesday morning on the first leg of a four-nation Africa tour, leaves on Thursday morning.
On Tuesday, she visited the Greater Accra Regional Hospital where she made some donations and interacted with mothers and children.
She donated a phototherapy machine to be used in the treatment of neonatal jaundice in babies and gifts to mothers and children at the Child Welfare Clinic of the Hospital, also called Ridge Hospital. The gifts included sanitary pads, teddy bears, diapers and other toiletries.
The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Emmanuel Srofenyo, said although they already have some of the machines, the model donated by the US First Lady is one of the best in the world.
“This is going to add to the number of phototherapy equipment that we have which is going to go a long way in saving the lives of babies who develop complication of jaundice during the neonatal period,” Dr Srofenyo said.
Her African trip, which would also take her to Malawi, Kenya and Egypt, comes five months after she launched her ‘Be Best’ campaign which demands she travels to meet with children all over the world in a bid to promote successful organisations and programmes that share her goal and work closely with the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
First Lady Trump revealed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that “October 2 will mark the first day of my solo visit to four beautiful and very different countries in Africa – Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt – all of which have worked alongside USAID and our partners to make great progress in overcoming some of their biggest challenges”.
-0- PANA MA/VAO 3Oct2018
