Case Study

Ebo, an 8 year old boy, was sent by his mother to live with his sister and her husband. They made Ebo work and until he was 16, he was working long hours every day in highly dangerous conditions on Lake Volta (in Ghana). He was forced to paddle canoes, cast nets and deep dive to untangle them.

He fished with his friend Malik, who had also been trafficked and forced to work on Lake Volta. They had very little to eat, endured scorching heat and survived storms that upended their boat. When Ebo was not working on the lake, he had to smoke and package the fish for sale at the market.

They work three times a day. They started work at 4am and work till noon, and go again at 2pm until 6pm and then cast the last net at night. They were often beaten and insulted if they made a mistake.

One day, Ebo's friend Malik drowned after being forced to dive the free the nets. Ebo was afraid to dive and begged to be sent back home as he could also die.

A Ghanaian NGO, working to free children from slavery, rescued Ebo eight years on at the age of 16.

The Lake Volta region in Ghana is home to over 200,000 child slaves. Due to a combination of social problems and old cultural practices, a dangerous cycle of child labour and human trafficking has been created. Many of these children are forced into hazardous work, with Lake Volta earning a reputation as a brutal and traumatic location for child trafficking. The victims face extreme abuse, trauma, illness and death.