Volunteering Project in Ghana Kasoa In Ghana especially along the coast, many children are trafficked into labor due to abject poverty. Based on some statistics, there over 1.3 million children in Ghana who are engaged in child labor. Due to the nature of the work, some of the children working on the fishing boats are seriously injured or killed. Some of these children are trafficked to distant fishing villages for years at a time and exploited with little to no compensation. Most at times, the children are paid in fish and they have to sell them to make money.
Education is a luxury in most communities in Ghana, especially along the coastal villages. Currently, there are over 1,000 children who are being trafficked in the fishing communities around Buduburam namely, Senya Breku, Fetteh and Nyanyano. Research is so important to learn how the child trafficking is occurring, why, and how to provide a solution to help the children involved.
Volunteers will conduct questionnaire research in seaside towns and villages where children fish boat workers are prevalent. Volunteers will be escorted by the local project coordinator who will act at times as a translator.
Volunteers will participate in children’s rights educational talks at local schools to raise awareness about the importance of education, rights of the child, teenage pregnancy (one major factor of the trafficking) and dangers of child trafficking. The goal of these talks is to dissuade children from dropping out of school in order to work.
Volunteers will also be able to get involved in teaching in the fishing community and also organize sports and crafts. The basic aim is to aid, encourage and inspire less privileged but intelligent children in Ghana to stay in school and assist them to lift themselves out of poverty.