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18.12.2009 General News

Fifty-Two Trafficked Children Re-United With Families

18.12.2009 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

It was a ceremony of mixed feelings. Often many were confused as to whether the tears that ran down their cheeks were tears of joy or really tears of sorrow.

Another batch of 52 children trafficked from the fishing community of Imuna and other communities in the Mfantseman Municipality of the district were being reunited with their families.

They were brought from around Yeji, a fishing community in the Brong Ahafo Region, to reunite with their families.

In the past five years nearly 500 children have been reunited with their families in the area.

This was made possible through the efforts of Pro Link, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), and collaborating agencies.

There were hugs and cheers as young children, some of them as young as six years, reunited with their families.

Many others sat quietly with smiles on their faces. For Mr Benard Nyamson, a co-ordinator with Pro Link, the problem now was for the families to ensure that the children were not trafficked again.

He said investigations conducted into the phenomenon of child trafficking indicated that parents trafficked the children into conditions that could be hazardous to their health and well-being for various sums of money.

Mr Nyamson said some of the children told officials that they were not sure whether they would get the needed support and care at home.


Simoen Quayson confirmed these concerns. He said he did not have any family member ready to take care of him, only an old grandmother who was incapable of taking care of his needs.

He is 17 years, and does not know at what age he was sent to Yeji to stay and work with a fisherman. He said he was too young to know.

“In Yeji I went on fishing expeditions and worked as a diver,” he said. His only hope, he said, was the promise of a teacher in the Imuna Catholic Primary who had promised that he should come and stay with him in order to help him go through school.

“Even if I don’t get anyone to take care of me I would not go back to Yeji,” he said rather emphatically. He said he was grateful to Pro Link for bringing him home.


When I spoke with the teacher, Mr Peter Annan, he reaffirmed his promise to help the boy. Adwoa Takyiba had been reunited with five other siblings taken to Yeji but she admitted that it would be difficult to take care of all the five.

“It had always been difficult taking care of all of them since we lost our mother and that was why I sent them to Yeji,” she said.

She is a seamstress with one child and said her earnings were too meagre to take care of them all and her husband was not ready to take care of all the five siblings.

“I will manage, the Lord being my help,” she said. Mr Nyamson said it was the responsibility of parents to take care of the children they had and they did not have any excuse.


He said it was the responsibility of parents and guardians to ensure that the children had the needed care and attention to enable them to grow into responsible adults who would contribute to build a better Ghana.

Mr Nyamson said many parents did not know where their children slept and that such bad attitudes must stop. The Mfantseman Municipal Commander of Police, Superintendent Emmanuel Odonkor, said it was an offence to send a child under 18 to sea.

He cautioned parents to desist from child trafficking warning that the law would deal ruthlessly with anyone found to have trafficked the child.

Ms Aggrey-Korsah of the Mfantseman Municipal office of the Ghana Education Service, said it was unfortunate that many of the children returned to the families were not enrolled in schools.

She advised parents to show more commitment in bringing up their children into responsible adults. But sometimes, the problem is far too complicated. It is one that calls for societal solution.

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