January 2016
In This Issue: Fynn's Fortitude
Art Advocates
Fynn's Fortitude
Fynn was born in Big Ada, a town in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. His father died when he was only seven years old. His mother was poor and as the sole provider, struggled to care for him and his sister. He attended school until fourth grade when his mother remarried.
The family moved to a fishing island along Lake Volta with his step father and step brothers and sister. There was no school on the island so Fynn was unable to continue his education. While his step-siblings attended school in a city nearby, Fynn was forced to work 14 hour days to support his step father's children. Every time he asked his mother and step father to attend school, he was beaten. He was miserable and wanted nothing more than to go to school.
Fynn's stoic expression reflects four years of inhumane treatment. He tried to run away but was caught, punished, and subjected to harsher and stricter conditions. During one of RTBF's anti-child labor and child trafficking awareness campaigns on the islands of Lake Volta, the chief and elders of Fynn's village, informed RTBF of his plight. Together with Social Welfare, RTBF rescued Fynn in May 2014, despite a tough battle with his step father. Fynn went through the six month rehabilitation process at the Rehabilitation Center in Accra (capital of Ghana) and received counseling and medical care.
Fynn's fortitude never allowed him to give up his dream to go to school despite his dire circumstances. His dream finally became a reality in the fall of 2014 when RTBF enrolled him in school. Now 15 years old, Fynn is happy and currently attending junior high school. He lives at a shelter in Sunyani, supported by RTBF, and visits his family during school breaks.
Art Advocates
Lincoln Community School's Right To Be Free Club has been offering a series of art workshops, thanks to a generous grant from the school's Lincoln Loyalty Fund. The first art workshoptook place last month and on January 19th, a second art workshopwelcomed artists from Nima Muhinmanchi Art (NMA), whose mission is to empower youth in Ghana to express themselves and beautify their community through art. The visiting NMA artists collaborated with the RTBF Club and Lincoln students to create four different murals around the issue of child trafficking.
According to student August Agdal-Brown (front right), who helped create the RTBF Club, the kids really enjoyed working with the Nima artists, discussing how to express the importance of children's rights and painting the murals. The artists' experience working with children and their artistic talents helped make the art workshop a great success, while also raising funds for RTBF.
Thank you Lincoln Community School and the RTBF Club for your exemplary leadership in educating our youth about children's rights and we extend our gratitude to NMA for their wonderful collaboration! If you are interested in starting a RTBF Club, please send inquiries to info@righttobefree.org.
RTBF continues to advocate for victims of child trafficking and child laborers like Flynn. His indomitable spirit and desire to attend school inspire us to work tirelessly to provide children like him with opportunities beyond their reach. Your financial support is of critical importance to our mission to save and improve the lives of enslaved children. We hope you will consider making a donation of any size so we can continue our lifesaving work. On behalf of the lives we fight for, THANK YOU!
All operating costs are funded internally, so 100% of every donation directly supports victims of child trafficking.
If you are an Amazon shopper, please support RTBF when you shop online. Amazon’s Smile Foundation will donate .05% of your purchase to Right To Be Free. Your account is exactly the same on Amazon and AmazonSmile and your shopping activity and purchases remain private. Use AmazonSmile's link once to shop for the benefit of RTBF and in the future, type “Smileamazon.com” (instead of Amazon.com) in your browser and your Amazon purchases will help save a child’s life!
