We drove west from Accra along the coast to a small fishing village. These people literally fish for a living by using nets thrown from these motor-less boats:
It was interesting to walk around the village - literally $50 homes built on million dollar, ocean front property:
But the reason I was brought here was not to see the ocean or even these people, but to learn firsthand about child slavery and trafficking. You see it is villages like this one that trafficking often occurs in this part of the world - so we came here to walk around, but also to be taught the truth about what is going on.
Poverty has an effect on every area of their lives - and I've found that parents here are quick to attempt to give their children a better life. Parents take out loans and find ways to pay for private, boarding schools they can't afford - and many of the teenage girls that I talked with, in the city of Accra, were sent to the city for "a better life".
This is how the story begins. Good intentioned parents in their poverty, desperation, and ignorance sending their children into slavery without even knowing it.
"Recruiters" show up in these small, rural villages (like I visited in the North) and offer a better life for the children. They even offer to give some money (I was told maybe $100). The kids are then brought to the city where they are sold. Most of the time, the parents have absolutely no idea what is happening with their kids.
Many girls are sold into prostitution - young girls, sometimes less than 10 years old, raped by predators so someone can make a buck.
Others end up in factories, or fields, working all day in the sun or along the shores of fishing villages forced to do hard, disgusting work that these men don't want to do.
I was told about the story of a 12 year old girl named Abigale:
Abigale was from a small village in Northern Ghana. Her aunt came back to the village, told Abigale's mother that she will take her to the city, where she can get a better education and have a chance to live a better life. This sounded like a good idea to the family - so Abigale headed to the city with her aunt.
Shortly after, 12 year old Abigale was forced into prostitution. No education, no better life - just raped by men 3 or 4 times her age.
A short story, a horrifying story - but a story that is happening here in Ghana, and in many places all over our world.
Poverty is the root of the problem. It starts with desperation and ignorance. And it ends with many children in slavery.
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