The Research and Counseling Foundation for African Migrants (RECFAM), an NGO focusing on fighting child trafficking in West Africa has given educational scholarships to some 31 re-integrated trafficked children from the Zabzugu and Tatale-Sanguli districts.
Mr. Mbinglo Alfred Nsodu, Executive Director of the RECFAM, who paid the school fees and gave some stipends to the children on Friday in their communities, said the support was to enable them to be properly reintegrated into their societies and to build their skills for the future.
He advised them to be assertive and resist any tendency that would lead them into slavery again, and stressed that, child trafficking is an abominable act punishable by law.
Mr. Nsodu, who is also the Coordinator of the West Africa Network, said child trafficking was very common in the two districts because of the high level of poverty in the area; noting that, most of the cases that had been handled by his outfit were perpetrated with the connivance of some parents of the trafficked children.
He said the NGO was aimed at protecting children to ensure their full development and urged the country to stand up against the traffickers and severely punish them to serve as a deterrent to others.
Mr. Nsudo said there was the need for government to sensitize communities to know that it was illegal to engage in human trafficking saying, “It will surprise you that in some cases, parents receive only GHc1.00 and give out their children even without knowing the trafficker”.
The Coordinator said most Ghanaian children were mostly trafficked to Nigeria, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, whilst children from those countries were also being trafficked to Ghana.
Mr. Nsodu said, before RECFAM re-integrates a child to his/her community, it assists the parents with some capital to enable them to take up the responsibility of taking care of their children when the NGO ends its support.
He indicated that some Ghanaian nationals, who were facing immigration problems abroad, were also being supported by the RECFAM while assisting some farming communities with irrigation facilities to improve their crop yield.
Mr. Umar Seidu Iddrisu, Assistant Director, Department of Community Development and Social Welfare, said the department had been working with the NGO for the past two years in the area, and that, some of the rescued children had been trained in various skills to make them employable.
He urged the government to complement the activities of the NGO to reduce child trafficking. Adding that, “the department needs logistics and capacity building to function effectively”.
Mr. Iddrisu explained that because of the proximity of the district to the Togo border, child trafficking was very common.
Master Jonas Mawa, a fifteen-year-old boy, who was rescued from Nigeria, pledged to fulfill his dream of becoming a medical doctor despite the setbacks.
