Child Slavery in Ghana

As young as four years old, children are sold by their parents to fishermen for only $25. Many of the parents do so because they are rasing large families consisting of as many as twenty-two children. Threfore, the only way they can support younger childern is by selling the older ones. The parents do not know that once they agree to sell their children, they are forced to live in horrible condictions. The enslaved children are forced to sleep on the ground, they receive one small meal a day, and are forced to do hard physical labor. If the children refuse to do what their masters tell them, they are then badly beaten. The parents only agree to send their children to such an awful place because the fishermen lie to them and tell them that they are taking the children to a place where they will receive an education and learn a skilled trade.

The children usually stay in the custody of the fishermen until one of three things happen. One, sometimes the children earn extra money. Many of them take that money, buy their own boat and slaves. Two, there are organizations set up in Ghana that rescues the children from their masters, once rescued, they then take the children home to their families. Lastly, the children do not survive the harsh condictions they were forced into. Ghana's government is now aware of this problem. They are setting up new policies and regulations to try and stop child slavery once and for all.