I got in the taxi this morning and Jen (a legal fellow) asked how yesterday had turned out. I paused. I didn't know where to even begin. All I could muster was a fatigued "good." Jen has been here several months already, so I knew she understood. She handed me half of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich-- I couldn't have been more thankful. Nothin' quite like the comforty goodness of a genuine PB&J.
So, yesterday. Yesterday I accompanied our Aftercare team and Senior Attorney to the aftercare shelter (where the rescued boys have been living) and then to Ho, the capital city of the Volta Region. Our team was facilitating the reunion of three of the rescued boys with their families. Two additional boys were coming along for brief meet ups with their families before returning to the shelter.
Tracing. After boys are rescued, concerted efforts are made by DSW (the Department of Social Welfare) and our Aftercare team to locate each boy's biological family. Many boys are trafficked to the lake from far away villages and haven't seen their families in years. So tracing families is often like searching for a needle in a haystack and can take months. Often, the only thing the Aftercare team has to work from is a name and a district given to them by the boy.
When a family is located (sometimes quite miraculously), DSW and Aftercare conduct interviews and in-depth assessments of the home situation to determine if the family is fit to care for the boy. In some cases, the boys' families were involved in their trafficking, and the boys themselves speak of their parents as wicked people. The private aftercare shelter where the boys have been placed will be their home until a safe and stable permanent placement can be found.
That "A" Team. I don't know everything that the Aftercare team does, but I've gotten to tag along with them several times and WOW. They are an amazingly gifted group of professionals who I have seen work tirelessly on behalf of each boy. They know each boy well and the boys love them. This reunion between the boys and their families was the result of months of searching and interviewing and preparation. This was a big day.
We left the aftercare shelter early in the morning with the five boys to make the 3-4 hour journey to the Volta Region. The day was a mish mash of emotions and experiences. It was happy and sad, glorious and heartbreaking, exhausting and energizing-- all rolled into 17 hours. Add some hugs and tears and singing and puking and you've just about got the idea.
I would argue that I had the best job of everyone on the trip as I got to hang out with the boys all day. One by one, they met with our team, DSW, the police, and their parents. I spent most of the day happily sandwiched between the two youngest boys as they wrote in colorful new workbooks. (And let me tell you, their attention spans are LONG.) One of the boys didn't know a lick of English six months ago. Now he was succeeding fabulously with his letters.
I wish I could show you their pictures and the video of them chatting away. Take my word for it: Cute with a capital "C."
After three bittersweet goodbyes and some pretty teary eyes, we were ready to head back to the shelter. About 2 hours into the trip, one of the remaining two boys started to sing and then slowly the van became quiet. That boy's mother had failed to show up to meet with him. So sad. I looked back and saw the boys were both asleep, using each other as human pillows.
The whole experience evinced a feeling in me that it was a day I had truly lived. I had witnessed an amazing part of these boys' stories, and I had seen justice, hope, and joy with my own eyes. It was more than I could fully take in-- it still is.
As a member of the Aftercare team debriefed the staff the next day, he commented on the clear care and concern demonstrated by DSW and police-- an encouraging development. As an "issue" of child labor it may be easy for officials to misunderstand or dismiss, but as my colleague said, "Once you meet the boys you will never be the same."
Truth.
P.S. You may be wondering...
How do boys end up on the lake in the first place?
There are many ways a boy can end up in forced labor/ slavery on Lake Volta. Poor villages along the coast of Ghana are prime targets for traffickers. Families are incredibly poor, and often have already engaged their very young boys in fishing from the ocean shore. Traffickers take boys from these communities to one of thousands of villages on Lake Volta to work for them or for another boat master. The kids endure neglect, trauma, starvation, and sleep deprivation. Some traffickers are members of the extended family or acquaintances of the family who use deception to gain consent of parents-- promising that the boy will be taught a trade and attend school. Other boys are taken on school holiday to work but are never returned. Such a boy is essentially lost to the parent who may spend years searching for him. Sometimes parents willfully sell their child to a trafficker-- ridding themselves of a mouth to feed and gaining much-needed income in the exchange.
What is the cultural attitude toward child labor?
What seems very obvious to an outside observer is that trafficking and exploiting a child to work everyday on a lake in a small wooden boat is not only dangerous, but unethical. Seven year old boys should be learning their alphabet, sleeping 10 hours a night, and skinning their knees on the playground. But in many parts of Ghana, cultural norms are such that many don't blink an eye at child labor-- even the most abominable forms like we see on Lake Volta. Why? It's been part of the way things are done for many, many years. It's economical and easy to put children to work. Children are not children, they are cheap labor. They have no rights, no intrinsic value, no legitimate needs.
So the culture and the law are in conflict. What next?
Well, great question. Enforcing the law is crucial. Right now, impunity is change's worst enemy. The risk of using children in labor has to be greater than the reward. We believe that over and above other strategies, deterrence through prosecutions is the best and most efficient answer to those who choose to enslave children. You can't teach it out of perpetrators or negotiate your way to better behavior. Perpetrators must hear and see the great "NO." Step by step, Ghana will get there. It's a lot to change--a time-worn mindset isn't easily undone. And so we pray and we continue to move forward, even if by inches. We look forward to the day when no one would dare use a child on Lake Volta.
grateful.
alayna.
