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The Ordeal Of A Poor Coastal Boy Along The Volta Lake

By Kudjordjie Enoch Narh/Ordinary Ghanaian
Opinion The Ordeal Of A Poor Coastal Boy Along The Volta Lake
JUL 19, 2014 LISTEN

'Childhood Should Be Carefree, Playing In The Sun; Not Living A Nightmare In The Darkness Of The Soul.' Dave Pelzer.

'Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! It's time to go to fishing', Ayibi shouted from behind the dirty white curtains at the entrance of Teye's room. He woke up with a loud yawn and sleepily washed his face then picked up his small torch light, pair of oars and his snack bag which was a black polythene bag barely large enough to contain two cups of gari and some smoked fish.

This was the routine that preceded the one kilometer walk from the mud and thatch house to the lake each day. Most often during the walk, Teye will take inspiration from his old Casio wrist watch, the thing that compelled him to do this vacation job in the first place. He dreamt of making enough money to buy new shoes, socks, books and an authentic watch.

Today's walk was different and was more emotional for him that tears dripped down his cheeks. And 'Pam maleer' wept. His reputation as an expert swimmer at such a tender age earned him that title translated as 'The River flea'. His friend Dede back in Ada will be in school by now learning all the wonders of Science, Mathematics and Creative Arts. Today the thought of not being in the classroom with his friend dawned on him again.

The hatred for his uncle Ayibi grew with each passing day. It's been two years now since he left Ada with his uncle for a one month vacation in a small village near Yeji, in the Brong Ahafo region. The wrist watch that his uncle used in luring him from his bright future is now his only source of inspiration and hope towards making amends to his already shaky future. He knows very well that Dede and his classmates back in Ada have moved on. His daily struggles of working tirelessly to catch enough fish for his uncle wore him down. With three wives and five children, his uncle doesn't understand the value of education and moreover considers Teye his best 'horse'. It will take divine intervention to free this poor 10 year old from the shackles of child labour.

He yawned while checking the time on his wrist watch which was 3:30 am. It was rather cold and foggy today and the locusts rattled in the dark as he made the familiar walk towards the river bank. His first task is to empty the canoe of water and wait patiently for his uncle. Usually, he wrestles with giant mosquitoes in the cold during that 30 minute wait. They set off and work a little less than 12 hours using all sorts of techniques and methods. Teye is always on hand to dive into the river to disentangle their fishing net and set fish traps. The work is always tough and risky.

The poor 'Israelite' now trapped in an 'Egyptian' land has no hope of escape to continue his education. He has no idea where a savior could come from to rescue him from the miserable and treacherous life he has been subjected to. This is what a young boy of 10 years, denied of his basic human right has to go through every day to survive in a typical fishing village along the Volta Lake. He is indeed a victim of social injustice!

Every school vacation, more than 1000 school pupils are sent from the coasts of Greater Accra, Volta, Western and the Central regions to Yeji, Kete Krachie, Kpando, Dambai and other fishing villages to help relatives and other fisherfolk, to raise money for their schooling and for family upkeep. Some of the children are traded for meagre sums of money by their wicked parents and guardians. Others like the poor Teye, never come back to continue their education. They stay and work for years for their masters. The sweat of their labour is given to those wicked parents. There are also contractors in this evil but flourishing act, who are contracted to search for these young children and are paid in return. Is this not domestic slavery?

The children, mostly between the ages of 5 and 17 years face many dreadful moments in their lives during this period. The means of transporting them to the said destinations in itself is questionable. They are normally packed like sardines into those very old Tata buses travelling over 15 to 30 hours. A bus with a seating capacity of thirty three can carry over 100 children for such a long journey. It's just like the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Are there not police on the road? Someone quizzed. Yea! They are there, both the good and the bad. Haha! This is Ghana for you.

In 2010 when the Ghana police intercepted three buses loaded with children numbering 338, suspected to have been trafficked from the Ada and Ningo catchment areas in the Greater Accra region, the MP for Sege constituency was quoted as saying that 'the problem of child trafficking, especially, in the Sege Constituency, has been in existence since time immemorial'. Honorable MP! And so what? Section 87 of the Children's Act of 1998 proscribes the engagement of children in exploitative labour that threatens their health, education and development. I am sure the lawmaker was not in the house at the time this law was passed. I am sure he might have revised it by now. So honorable, what have you done so far in your constituency to end this menace?

Upon arrival, the children, without life jackets are transported in boats for several hours across the Volta Lake to the fishing villages. There, they are left at the mercy of their inexperienced friends to learn all about fishing and the river within days so they can become economically productive. At the glare of the dangers associated with the river, they struggle to survive. No life jackets, no working gears! They are turned into divers overnight, exposed to the sun all day mending nets, and are sometimes treated like slaves. The unlucky ones get drowned while those lucky, after many years of hard labour come home empty handed, visionless and hopeless. The girls are sometimes raped and forcefully pushed into marriage.

After the introduction of the free feeding, free uniforms and books, it is expected that child labour and issues of trafficking will be minimized. On the contrary, however, nothing much has changed. So has the evil act of child labour become part of our culture? Before the implementation of the new school policy, some argued that education is expensive and that parents and guardians cannot afford, and therefore the children can help during vacations to raise money for their schooling. Yet after implementing the policies the children are still exploited.

Our human right activists have become so glued to issues of gender equality at the expense of child labour and trafficking. Our younger brothers and sisters are crying for help in the fishing communities along the Volta Lake. They are being maltreated and molested. Vampires have sucked their future for long and are still sucking it. They have stolen the future we need to build a better Ghana. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Non-Governmental Organizations such as the Ghana Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Coalition and well-meaning Ghanaians must stem their effort in curbing this menace.

The FCUBE policy is a very good tool to end this menace if efficiently implemented. The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service must evade these areas to rescue these innocent children. The school heads must be vigilant to probe the whereabouts of their pupils especially in the coastal areas. The Government in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection must also implement a reward scheme to reward people who reports issues of child labour, abuse and trafficking.

Thousands of innocent Ghanaian children are victims to child labour, and like the poor coastal boy, they wake up every morning to go through a hell-living life, in the hands of an ignorant slave master. The innocent child is suffering out there! Out there in the fishing, farming and mining communities! Out there on our streets doing prostitution! Out there in the homes of others being maltreated. Out there behind the offices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection carrying heavy loads as kayayei. They wanted to be rescued from these ordeals.

Diaries Of An Elite Fisherman....
Kudjordjie Enoch Narh

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