for history in college. Colby-Sawyer, with its small size, seemed ideal. It reflected the nature of my upbringing, where all the members of a family live in the same place, in a close community. I had a wonderful experience here, in both an academic sense and a social sense. It's been great, he says.
For three years, Holu cultivated himself as a History, Society, and Culture major and member of the Wesson Honors Program to prepare for his Capstone project. The question born in him as a child in Gwollu still reverberated, and he sought to understand the slave trade that had indelibly marked the history of the people in Gwollu.
With the assistance of the Wesson Idea Fund, a Colby-Sawyer grant program that supports independent research, Holu took his project beyond a research paper.
After completing an internship as host of his own Ghanaian radio program, he set out on a 15-day trek across Ghana to trace the journey endured by his enslaved ancestors. Holu followed their path from Gwollu to the coastal castles where they were held before being shipped across the ocean.
From stories my grandparents told me and from what I read, I identified vantage points in the route. I made sure to visit each for at least a day to talk to people about their knowledge of the slave trade and how they feel about it, recounts Holu. I underestimated how difficult it was going to be. I went to some places I literally couldn't get out of once I got in, transportation-wise. Fortunately, I had Facebook friends I'd never met in most of the towns I visited. I messaged them, 'I'm coming to your town, but I don't have anywhere to stay. Can you help me find a hotel?' They'd reply, 'There's no hotel, but you can stay in my house.' One great thing about Ghanaian people is that they are very kind and always ready to help.
According to Holu, Some of the realities and truths were hard to swallow. There's no way I can even come close to experiencing what the slaves might have experienced along that route. But, in some of the places I visited, I felt like I was there with them. These places included Gwollu's wall, a castle's bat-ridden slave dungeons, and a tree considered haunted by some locals that had served as the site of a slave marketplace.
Very early on, Holu says, I felt I was a custodian of my culture and African history, and I felt the honor was on me to preserve these histories. He has succeeded, having presented his findings during November's International Education Week and receiving the Colby-Sawyer Award at Commencement. But he envisions his project going further. I think this will be the cornerstone of my life's work, Holu says. In graduate school, I'm going to aggressively pursue this topic. I'll probably write a book, but just educating myself on my people's history is rewarding enough for me.
Whatever Holu chooses to do, the world will benefit. As Holu says, Knowing global history, from any perspective, is one way of fostering worldwide understanding and global citizenry."
- David Hart '13