I explain to the four men and one woman that I am preparing for a trip tomorrow to Ghana's notorious slave dungeons. Sometimes the spirits there are very active. Amoah tells of a recent incident in which the remains of two former slaves were returned from their burial sites in North America to the Ghanaian dungeons as part of a repatriation ceremony. My journey begins with a long, bumpy drive over difficult roads to the small village of Asin-Manso, the last inhabited stopping point between the hinterland and the coast. Asin-Manso is surrounded by a large stand of trees.
Smoke curls upward from open cooking fires nearby.
It is the start of the rainy season and everything is lush and green from a recent shower. The river's edge peeks out from behind the trees. A woman, with her son of about ten, wants to sell me a clay urn that has just been removed from the kiln. I ask her if she knows anything about the village of Asin-Manso. They are buried over there.