November 2015
In This Issue: Making A Difference
Art Workshop
RTBF Reception
Senyo Update
Shop for Cause
Making A Difference
The Right To Be Free Club of Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana, created a wonderful video, Making A Difference, featuring three former trafficked children, Christian, Mabel and Mawuko, and their messages of freedom and hope. It also highlights the reunion between Senyo, a crippled trafficked boy who was rescued last year, and his two older brothers, Yao and Kafu, who were also trafficked and working on Lake Volta until they were rescued by RTBF in late 2014.
Right To Be Free Club - Lincoln Community School
Accra, Ghana
Art Workshop
Lincoln Community School's Right To Be Free student club, led by teacher Alex Papp, hosted an art workshop where each club member partnered with a rescued child. Local artists volunteered their time to provide guidance to the young artists as they worked together on a painting about freedom.
Victoria: "My partner's name was Ewoenam. We made art with peace signs and hearts. The peace sign represents peace and the hearts represent love, and peace and love together represents kindness."
The Peace Maker
Victoria and Ewoenam
Selikem (right): "This artwork I have done with my partner, Mabel, represents me because I am in a room where I feel hot or unsafe. I feel trapped like the fishes in the shark, and when I come out to breathe, I feel free just like when the fishes are coming out of the shark's mouth. My partner, Mabel, felt trapped when she was in the boat [on Lake Volta] and feels free when she gets out. So we chose the fishes getting free from the shark. Mabel my partner was freed about 10 years ago and after being freed by Right To Be Free, has recently graduated from nursing school!"
Freedom Fishes
Selikem and Mabel
Esi: "My partner Peter (above), and I thought that home was a good choice because we can do anything we want. But even if there are some rules, we can stay home and be free. We also thought that a garden would be good because you can run around and play with butterflies. My partner's name was Peter and a house and garden were what freedom meant for him."
Free Home
Esi and Peter
August (right): "My partner, Christian, came up with the idea for our painting. For him, this represented freedom because it is a hand that is protecting the bird from someone who wants to hurt it, and helping it fly to freedom. It was hard to imagine that after being mistreated for so long that he was so open and able to have fun, not physically or internally angry and breathing loudly like I would have imagined."
The Grand Takeoff of Freedom
August and Christian
Raya (left): "We chose to draw birds flying out of a red bloody hole and going to the joyful sunlight. We did this to show that the child slaves were in danger and now they are free from their terrible masters. My partner's name was Atsu. My teacher, Alex Papp, inspired me to take action in helping child slaves and spreading awareness to the world or at least to a few countries. To me, this art work means freedom for everyone, especially child slaves. I decided to add decoration and made this project one of my best works so that someone can buy it and we would have a bigger amount of money to free more child slaves. The unique thing about this artwork is that it represents freedom of children's lives."
Fly To Freedom
Raya and Atsu
Diana (right): "For our artwork, my partner, Bright, and I made a hand. The colors we chose were yellow, orange, blue, black, and others. We came up with a hand because it represented freedom to us. My partner Bright said he loves art and he likes to express himself with it. What I learned from this activity was even though the kids may be different, the truth is that they really aren't that different than me."
The Free Hand
Diana and Bright
RTBF Reception
Eric Peasah was the guest speaker at Right To Be Free's annual reception. He shared photos and information about the rescue mission of trafficked children in the gold mining and cocoa farming sectors.
Senyo Update
Eric Peasah recently visited Senyo at the FOCOS Hospital in Accra, Ghana where he has been undergoing pre-surgery preparations.
Senyo is adjusting well to wearing a halo traction device to help straighten his deformed spine prior to surgery.
Dr. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, a world renowned spine reconstruction surgeon and founder of FOCOS, will perform Senyo's surgery. A native Ghanian, Dr. Boachie-Adjei "retired" from a successful private practice in New York to return to Ghana to help victims like Senyo with spine deformities. RTBF and FOCOS Hospital raised enough funds to make his surgery possible. Thanks to compassionate donors, Senyo is closer to his dream of becoming a police officer to protect other children from traffickers.
Shop for a Cause - Stella & Dot
A portion of all sales from Stella & Dot's trunk show to benefit Right To Be Free will support our life saving work. Their holiday collection includes a gorgeous assortment of jewelry and accessories - just in time for this season's gift giving. There are styles to fit every budget and every age. Trunk show exclusives; spend $50 and get 50% off. Trunk show ends December 3rd (11:59 pm, Pacific Time).
During this season of giving thanks and counting our blessings, Right To Be Free extends its heartfelt gratitude to our loyal supporters. None of RTBF's life saving work would be possible without your commitment to make freedom possible for enslaved children. Thank you for Giving Back and for Making A Difference. Because of you, children like Bright, Mabel, Peter and Mawuko, no longer live a life of abuse and oppression, but one of unlimited opportunity.
Since all operating costs are funded internally, 100% of every donation directly serves child victims of human trafficking - the worst form of child labor. Right To Be Free continues to fight against human rights violations while saving and protecting its most vulnerable and voiceless victims - children. Your gift will help a young child attend school for the first time, receive medical care, return to their family or live in a safe shelter, and most of all, restore their freedom and sense of self worth. We hope you will join our efforts, because every child has the Right To Be Free.
Now you can make a difference when you shop online. Amazon's Smile foundation will donate .05% of your purchase to Right To Be Free, at no extra cost to you, whenever you shop at Amazon through RTBF's AmazonSmile. Your account is the same on Amazon.com and AmazonSmile. Now your online purchases can help save a child's life. Thank you for making Right To Be Free's AmazonSmileyour link for Amazon shopping!
