The SEWA Foundation has indicated its commitment to continue collaborating with security agencies and related organisations to end human trafficking, especially, that involving children.
In its 2014 annual report, the foundation, with the full name, Sé éyé Wo Ba Anka, translated as, ‘If It Were Your Child’, said it was working with the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Human Trafficking Secretariat, National Health Insurance Authority, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service to achieve its objective.
It also works with the Women’s Union of Ghana Baptist Convention, Compassion International Ghana, VIP Bus Services, Ideal College, the National Chief Imam’s office and Salvation Army Ghana, to create awareness of human trafficking and other forms of abuses against children.
Awareness-creation campaign
In pursuit of its objective, the foundation has also intensified its awareness-creation campaign to educate people in the rural areas on the dangers of human trafficking, child abuse, child labour, the provisions of the Children’s Act 1998, (Act 560) and the Human Trafficking Act 2005, to protect children in the country.
The report said the major target of the foundation in 2014 was to help register 10,000 children with the National Health Insurance in all parts of the country, under a five-year programme, “and by the Grace of God”, they were able to register some children in the Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern regions, and were now undertaking the project in the Central Region.
To give a spiritual backing to its programmes, the foundation added prayers to its annual programmes, the report said, and added that it started a prayer session with Women Missionary Union of the Ghana Baptist Convention. It also held a day of prayer for trafficked victims, in partnership with the Salvation Army at Mamprobi and Methodist Church at Ajiriganor, both in Accra, in September last year.
It also prayed with Muslims to end human trafficking in Ghana, with the Muslim community praying for mercy and blessing for victims of human trafficking, the foundation, and repentance for the perpetrators. Sponsorship for students
The foundation also offered scholarship to eight students to further their education at the secondary level in 2014, in addition to 12 who are already being sponsored.
Another project of the foundation, last year, was to partner VIP Bus Services to show documentaries on child abuse, child labour and human trafficking to its passengers, in support of the awareness-creation exercise.
“Now, our main target for 2015 is to intensify efforts to reduce human trafficking both at the local and international levels, and also create awareness about the problem”, it said.
The foundation expressed its appreciation to the media, especially the immeasurable support from the Graphic Communications Group Limited, for dedicating the Gender Page to highlight the challenges of women, children, and underprivileged people in the society and also for publishing the activities of the foundation in the Daily Graphic, and promised to collaborate with the company to create awareness on human trafficking and child abuse. Related development
In a related development, the SEWA Foundation has organised an end-of-year get-together for children in Danfa in the Greater Accra Region, and its surrounding communities such as Ayi-Mensah, Kweiman, Adoteiman and Otinibi, on the theme, “Let them smile”.
The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Mr Jones Owusu Yeboah, advised parents to stop ‘selling’ their children and prioritise their education, adding, “We all know that education is key to development and we should give it the needed attention.”
