Feature Article : "The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Modernghana.com."

"How would you feel when you try to forget some of the horrible abuses you went through as a child and yet almost on a weekly basis you run into some of those who abused you?"

This was the genuine question 34-year-old James Kofi Annan, a former child slave turned banker and private businessman, posed to this writer during the interview for this article on his experiences as a victim of child trafficking vis-à-vis his current commitment to saving, helping and educating child slaves.

James had to change his name for two reasons - to forget his horrible past and for the safety of himself and his family.

"I try everyday to forget the seven years of physical, emotional and mental torture I was put through but I sometimes see some of my abusers walking the streets of Accra; some almost mentally derailed and I am reminded of my horrible past," he said.

He would add that the feeling is always that of aggression, not towards his abusers but towards child trafficking and child slavery and that fuels the drive in him to want to save more child slaves.

That explains why senior James, as he is affectionately called, would quit his lucrative job as a manager at Barclays Bank and commit his time, treasure and talent to saving children suffering the same fate he suffered from age six to 13.

"I am sold out to the conviction that as I save, help and educate more children, I am doing all that for myself because I did not get anybody to do that for me when I was a child slave," he said with such passion and conviction literally beaming from his eyes.

James epitomizes resilience in the real sense of the word and here is why - instead of coiling into his shell and blaming life for treating him unfairly as the average Ghanaian in his position would have done, he chooses to live his life on the principle that "to whom much is given, much is expected".

One would have thought that having "lost" seven years of his life in slavery, he would count himself unfortunate but just as the London-based Nigerian Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo admonishes - "don't waste your tears and pains - make them count for your rising".

Indeed Senior James' tears and pains have counted for his rising and today he is writing his thesis for his Masters, even though he started primary one at age 13. He also runs the multiple international awarding-winning Challenging Heights, an anti-child trafficking/slavery advocacy organization with a school for over 300 former and potential child slaves in Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana.

Depending on God and Self
Senior James has learnt through his child slavery days to depend on nobody but God and himself. That has translated effectively into his resolve to do his charity work largely at his own expense. Currently his charity activities are funded mainly with proceeds from his own printing press - Challenging Steps.

Through that he has put quite a number of former child slaves through the University of Ghana and other vocational training institutes. He employs them too.

He recently got international recognition through which he was presented with the Frederick Douglass Freedom Award for a single individual, who survived the scourges of child trafficking and slavery and is using his freedom to contribute towards the freedom of other children.

As part of his award he was decorated by the renowned South African Nobel Laureate and human rights activist, Bishop Desmond Tutu during the Freedom Awards in California, USA and was also presented with a cash prize to intensify his projects.

"Even though half of the prize money I won is for me personally, I have invested every cent into the charity projects because I just can't bring myself to enjoy that money whiles some children are being sold into slavery due to poverty," he said.

Such is the conviction of Senior James, who has sworn to mount a major anti-child trafficking/slavery/labour campaign in the next couple of months and warned that those who played politics with the lives of children should be ready for his vengeance.

The story of Senior James is real, and so is his passion to save child slaves. He has put his printing press on sale to raise more money for his full-time commitment to anti-trafficking activities.

State needs to do more
Meanwhile state actors have admitted to their own failures in dealing with child trafficking. A Board set up within the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to deal with child trafficking are virtually handicapped financially. The Board's activities had been mainly workshops and seminars with very little real action.

Ironically the Board members have congratulated themselves for having done their best so far "under the circumstances", notwithstanding the fact that hundreds of children, like Senior James, are still being trafficked domestically on daily basis.

Generally, politicians have been denying the child slavery claims and some have even compared it to the Oliver Twist true stories in Britain and said if child labour wasn't wrong in their context, it couldn't be wrong in our context. "The we and them syndrome."  Continued    Source: Samuel Dowuona

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