RIGHT TO BE FREE
Rescue Rehabilitate Reintegrate

Anti-Human Trafficking Unit

Right To Be Free was very busy this year planning and executing rescue missions as well as continuing its human rights advocacy work. Eric Peasah (Executive Director of RTBF/Africa) collaborated with the newly formed Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service. He and his team trained AHTU staff members, who will operate an office in Accra (capital of Ghana) and Tamale. The AHTU will help enforce Ghana’s 2005 Human Trafficking Act, which prohibits all forms of human trafficking and slavery.

October 2014

In This Issue:

Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit

Rescue Mission

Giving Back

Surgery for Senyo

Eric was recently appointed to Ghana's newly inaugurated Anti-Human Trafficking Management Board (back row, fourth from left).

Rescue Mission

This Spring and Summer, RTBF completed rescue missions to the Kpando region of Lake Volta. Eric and his team rescued 21 children (four girls and 17 boys) from bonded slavery. During their six months at the Rehabilitation Center, the children received medical and psychological evaluations, counseling and educational services. RTBF successfully retraced some of the children’s families, reunited them with family members and enrolled them in school.

Eric visits the rescued children at the Rehabilitation Center. (From left to right: Mabel, Peace (sisters), Efie, Ernest, Manu and Jojo).

Giving Back

The volunteer rescue team that assisted Eric this year included a special young man named Never. Ten years ago, Eric and his team rescued Never, who was sold by impoverished parents. Never spent years working on Lake Volta and he began to lose hope of ever seeing his parents again. Eric and his team rescued Never in 2004. With the support of RTBF, Never completed school from primary level through pre-college, graduating with a diploma in Management.

Never has not forgotten his life as an enslaved child. He now works with Eric on educational initiatives on various islands in Lake Volta. Using his own life as an example, he speaks to villagers in receiving communities, where trafficked children are taken. Never shares his experiences as a trafficked child and what he has accomplished over the years since he was rescued. He also inspires and encourages children to never give up hope. After talking to Never, a 14 year old rescued boy said he was looking forward to his freedom and the day he would give back; just like Never.

Volunteer rescue team (Never, second from left and Eric, second from right).

Senyo's Story

Three years ago, young Senyo and his two older brothers were trafficked to a fisherman to work on Lake Volta. His father was deceased and his mentally ill mother was unable to care for him and his siblings. Senyo was living with his maternal grandmother who was also taking care of four siblings and a cousin. They lived in Adafianu, located in the Volta region, alongside the beach. Their home was a shack made of coconut palms, which provided inadequate shelter, especially when it rained. Because of her impoverished condition, the grandmother gave Senyo and his two brothers and cousin to a fisherman named Jackson. Senyo, whose real age is unknown, is about 10 or 11 years old, although he appears younger due to malnutrition and his physical disability.

Senyo and his brothers were healthy when they were trafficked to work on Hanikpo, an island on Lake Volta near Kpando-Torkor. They worked long hours bailing water from boats, mending fishing nets and diving into the water to disentangle nets that were caught on submerged tree trunks.

The canoe on which they worked was usually slippery since spirogyra, a freshwater algae, covered the wood surface. One day, Senyo slipped and fell, hitting his chest against a wooden seat, fracturing bones in his chest and back. The severe injury led to Senyo’s incontinence and inability to walk unassisted. He experienced excruciating pain, but was never taken to the hospital for treatment. Instead, his master used hot compresses on his injury and according to Senyo, he was still forced to work on the lake.

His master later took Senyo to see an herbalist for treatment and left him there. Two years dragged by as the herbalist further traumatized Senyo. He was starved, beaten and forced to crawl to the herbalist’s farm to sweep the large compound. Fortunately, the intervention of a concerned neighbor led to his rescue by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and Eric Peasah. Senyo is now safe at a shelter in Kpando, supported by RTBF, under the protection and custody of DSW. Senyo’s traumatic childhood has left psychological scars as he often appears pensive and does not trust others.

Senyo has been taken to the FOCOS Hospital in Accra for evaluation. After a series of tests, he was diagnosed with five crushed vertebrae, which are compressing his spinal cord. He will need back surgery to restore his health and ability to walk.

Senyo is eager to attend school and church services, but is currently unable to due to his injuries. He wants to become a police officer so he can arrest his former master and others that traffick children. RTBF hopes to raise funds to pay for Senyo's surgery so his dreams of going to church, school and becoming a police officer can come true. Eric hopes to rescue Senyo's two older brothers, Yao and Kafui, and reunite them. More details about Senyo and how you can help are available at http://www.righttobefree.org/senyos-story.html.

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Right To Be Free/USA
1130 Old Colony Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045
righttobefree.org LDillon@righttobefree.org

Right To Be Free/Africa
P.O. Box SD 111, Stadium-Accra, Ghana, West Africa rightobefree.org EPeasah@righttobefree.org
+233-24-2170827 +233-20-8126696

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