Our mission trip to Ghana to The Daily Jot’s work with Pastor William Agbeti in the rural areas of Ghana with an additional focus on prevention of human trafficking has been both revealing and very successful. We have met with both non governmental organizations (NGOs), churches, and government agencies to determine what is being done to educate against human trafficking. To date, while intentions are pure and hearts are in the right place, we can find no curriculum to specifically tell parents and children how to identify if they are being approached by a human trafficker, how to respond to someone trying to recruit them, and what their options are for protection. This is where The Daily Jot comes in.
We have met with representatives of the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection to gather information and understand how best we can partner to prevent human trafficking. The Ministry shared Ghana’s National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana. One of the items in the plan is to develop training materials and facilitate routine training and sensitization activities for stakeholders at the national, district and community levels. The plan calls for training materials, quality training activities and distribution of materials for local communities in their tribal languages. The plan is just now being launched and these materials have not yet been produced.
We also met with a national NGO who has agreed to add human trafficking as part of their mission efforts in working with Pastor Agbeti. We interviewed at length a victim of human trafficking and are developing very specific materials that can be used across Ghana as education to assist children, parents, and pastors in recognizing human trafficking tactics and strategies, as well as exit strategies to extract victims from human traffickers before they are taken away. Some of the information that we have found is shocking. No one, no matter their station in life, should be subject to these violations of human rights. When you actually meet victims and see what is happening, it becomes very real.
A recent study by “Free the Slaves” indicates that in 20 communities in Ghana, some 35% of households had children who had been subjected to trafficking and exploited by the fishing industry, domestic servitude, and forced marriage. Some communities indicated that every household reported a past or present incidence of trafficking. Over 20% of the households surveyed had more than one child trafficked. Slave labor, sex slavery, starvation, physical abuse and organ harvesting are just some of the horrors these children face. Christ said in Luke 17:2, “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” It is so true. I know there are a lot of problems in the world, but I appeal to you, please consider joining us in our mission to prevent this terrible injustice.
