As the founder of the organization Challenging Heights, James Kofi Annan was a child slave in more than 20 fishing villages for over 7 years. After his escape, James managed to become a university graduate and coordinate the rescue of hundreds of children, while providing a program of recovery and re-integration into Ghanaian society. Challenging Heights strives to improve household incomes, enabling communities to reject the sale and exploitation of children. Check it out here.
On April 19, Grand Rapids will have an opportunity to meet James, as well as others in the Grand Rapids area that are implementing their own working models to end child trafficking and slavery in our lifetime. To those who don't know James, you will. To those who don't care for this cause, you will.
The efforts in the Greater Grand Rapids area are promising, including the hard work of organizations like Women At Risk, Students for a Peaceful Africa (GVSU), Zonta Club and even an individual 19-year old girl from Hopkins who plans to ride her horse across the country this summer to raise awareness.
I have just begun to build on these efforts myself.
In the fall of 2005, as a young (mostly naïve) college student, I found myself desperately craving an "ah-ha" moment. You know what I'm talking about -- it's that moment when you feel like you've just made a realization, the moment when you reflect on who you are, but more importantly, who you'll be if you continue on the path you're on now. Within that moment, you can't help but ask "ah-ha… why didn't I see this before?" Soon after this craving began, I found myself in Ghana.
Located in a plush landscape in West Africa, I traveled with 18 other collegians to teach in a small village inland. We took a day-trip to nearby Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world. It was powerfully beautiful and inviting, but what appeared to be a region filled with healthy, happy families very quickly changed me forever.
As I walked near the lake, children ran up to me squeezing my hands, touching my hair.
Tons of children.
It was a feeling of awesome appreciation at first, but as I looked around I wondered, "What are all these kids doing here?" I hadn't seen a school for miles and the adults were few and far between. "They must be waiting for something," I told my friend. As it turns out, they were waiting to be rescued.
It is estimated that 1.3 million children in Ghana are held against their will and forced to work -- 27 million children worldwide. Far too often, they are severely abused, malnourished and unable to speak English, appearing unharmed, but facing an uncertain, dangerous future.
Boys row fishing boats and dive in dark waters, risking their lives to untangle nets for their owners. Girls spend hours preparing fish. Some don't remember their home village, which is probably for the best, considering some are sold by their parents for as little as $10.
But what if you were a parent struck by absolute poverty like this? The heartbreak of not being able to sustain your children must be unbearable.
Providing education and eliminating child labor are inextricably linked. To sustainably prevent child labor like this, we first have to address the educational needs of the poor populations. Challenging Heights provides educational support for returned and at-risk children, as well as the poorest of the affected fishing communities in Ghana.
For a glance at what is being done here in West Michigan and abroad, as well as simple ways you can help, check out Facebook's "Surviving Slavery" event page. Or, for more information, contact me at [email protected]. See you April 19!
Jessie Emelander is a wanna-be writer and an activist for social justice, with a background in Sociology. She recently started a volunteer organization called Sankofa. (www.sankofaCA.org), advocating for poverty alleviation and disease prevention in West Africa. In the pursuit of linking the resources of Grand Rapidians to the abundant student potential in impoverished nations, Jess strives to drive home the idea that local involvement can have an international impact. She is adamant that global advancement happens everyday, through the work of people who thought they would never make a difference.
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