Ghana's Child Labourers Our World

Ghana's biggest fishing ground, Lake Volta, holds a dark secret.

Tens of thousands of children who work on its waters have been

trafficked into a life of forced labour.

Given up by poor families on the promise of a better life.

Many face violence, and some even die on the job.

He's a child, but he's no longer a child.

He's been through things us as adults haven't been through.

The government has pledged to eradicate this illegal practice.

There's so many children who could be rescued and could be

put into this facility, but at the moment there's

no-one in here.

With the numbers dramatically on the rise, why are so many

children still taken and forced to work like slaves?

Yeji, a small town on the banks of Lake Volta,

in the centre of Ghana.

Around 35,000 people live here and the main source

of income is fishing.

It's one of Ghana's biggest industries, but the trade relies

on an army of children - some as young as four or five.

Dampson was ten when he was brought to work on the lake.

His mother was tricked into giving him up to a trafficker.

What were they making you do?

There are 21,000 like Dampson on Lake Volta alone,

doing dangerous work, like diving to untangle nets,

and fishing alone.

Buying and selling children is big business here.

They're trafficked into forced labour -

or what charities would describe as slavery.

It's early morning here in Yeji and we're on our way

to the river bank.

We have very little idea what to expect when we get out there.

Today, I'm joining a rescue team from the charity Challenging

Heights.

Hello, nice to meet you.

They've been notified about some children who are being held.

Can you talk us through where we're going today.

We're rescuing two boys today and one is in this community.

We'll manoeuvre our way through the tree stumps to get

to the community where the victim is.

The team can only afford two trips to the lake a year,

so they target specific children for rescue.

They get tip-offs from the community and many parents ask

for help to bring their children home.

It takes a lot of resources to rescue a kid.

We don't give up, we get so much joy from one less kid suffering on Lake

Volta.

But their task is huge.

Last year, Ghana was put on an international watch list

after a dramatic rise in trafficking.

We keep seeing these boats, as we're going past,

with children in them.

We're not quite sure if these kids are with their parents,

or they've actually been taken away by the fishermen.

It's not uncommon for children to work for their families.

Even when they're meant to be at school.

The team give advice to a passing fisherman.

Tell me what you're doing here today.

How will they help you today?

These kids, from what they are saying, they have not been

trafficked, but then, they are being forced to work.

We just have to advise the parents about the risk the children

are going through, being on the lake.

There's little the charity can do about children like these.

They concentrate on the ones who have been taken from their homes

and sold to fishermen.

After a couple of hours on the lake, we reach our destination.

Steven goes ahead to track down the man we're looking for.

We have a long walk.

The fishermen often live miles from any roads.

He was telling us we should spot two isolated houses -

OK.

In that far corner there.

The fisherman has agreed to talk.

He says he lives here with his wife and there are several children here.

The children we're looking for are here, but the fisherman

is reluctant to hand them over.

Word has spread and more villagers want to get involved.

The fisherman has finally given in, but there's an unexpected hitch.

The child doesn't want to go?

Eventually, the child obeys his master and we're able

to leave with both boys.

But it's not the triumphant rescue I was expecting.

The fisherman is unlikely to face prosecution

and the boys seem bewildered.

This must be quite nerve wracking and frightening for these children

because they don't know who you are.

You've just turned up in their homes and then suddenly you're

taking them away.

After several years in captivity, these boys are on their way

to freedom.

But they don't know who to trust.

Straight after being rescued, the children are taken

to the charity's temporary shelter, outside Yeji.

When I come to visit, I'm pleased to see happy faces here.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

So we've got all of these kids who were rescued.

This is the start of the process of finding their families.

Do they know where they've come from and what their names are,

who their parents are?

While they're here, they'll get smartened up -

hair trimmed, nails cut and any injuries treated.

Hello.

I'm not hurting you?

He doesn't have a nail.

What's happened to your leg?

What were you doing when your leg hit the boat?

How bad can it get when they're doing this job?

Bye.

Before they can move the children from Yeji,

the charity needs authorisation from the police.

These are the names we have rescued, so we are taking them

back for rehabilitation.

After that we need to find their parents.

Ghana has anti-trafficking legislation for the police

to refer to.

The authorisation is given to take the children.

This really is very strange.

We've told the police we have these children.

They've given us approval to take them away.

They're clearly aware this goes on in their communities,

but they're not doing anything about it.

Last year, there were no convictions.

A group of rescued children are preparing to start

their new life after years of forced labour on Lake Volta.

It was founded in 2007 by James Kofi Annan.

Definitely nice to see these children playing.

If you look at when they were rescued and compare to now,

you can see that freedom has come.

The shelter is very close to my heart.

For seven years, I worked on that lake as a fisher boy.

Every time I made a mistake, I was badly beaten.

So that was a life of seven cumulative years of slavery.

I see myself in the eyes of these children.

I see these children in my own eyes.

So it means a lot to me.

It takes many months to prepare the children for family life again.

Some have been away from their homes for years.

These are their rooms.

These are their rooms.

Do you see something missing here?

Do you see something missing here?

There's no pillow.

There's no pillow, yeah.

Why is that?

Deliberately.

Most of these children, when they go home, they don't even

have beds to sleep on.

We decided OK, no pillow, so that the experience

here is similar to when they go home.

11-year-old Boni has been at the shelter for more

than six months.

His parents are waiting for him to come home.

What's his name?

I want to know how he feels about returning to his family.

Do you miss your mum and dad?

Have you seen them yet?

What did you say to your mum and dad?

I like the way you dance.

I even took a video of it.

Let me show you. Look.

You're the best dancer in the room.

Boni's parents live in a poor, rural neighbourhood.

Hello, nice to see you.

They have five children.

His father was a fisherman until he became too ill to work.

His mother couldn't cope on her own.

Were you given money initially when he was taken?

Were you given money initially when he was taken?

Many poor Ghanaians send their children away to richer

relatives or people offering to teach them a trade.

Boni's mother thought she was sending him to a better life

with her sister.

Was it very emotional for you when you saw him

for the first time?

So what will happen to Boni when he comes back?

Education is free in Ghana up to the age of 15.

But many parents still don't send their children,

because they can't afford the books and uniforms.

We invite one of you to come.

Dampson was rescued after four years of forced labour on Lake Volta.

He's now back at school.

CHEERING

His classmates call him "soldier" because of what he's been through.

He's been given counselling for the trauma he's suffered.

After he was rescued, Dampson was taken in by his aunt.

His mother had died while he was still in captivity.

He wants to show me the room he shared with his mother.

But it's too painful to set foot inside.

Reintegrating rescued children back into their homes

is not always successful.

They come from poor families who sometimes can't or won't

take them back.

Ghana has earned international praise for its efforts

to fight child labour.

But the problem is getting worse, not better.

There are two government-run shelters to house trafficked

children, but when I visit one, it seems deserted.

There are kids here at this shelter, but I'm being told that none of them

have been trafficked.

There's so many children in Yeji who could be rescued and could be

put into this facility, but at the moment, there's

no-one in here.

We need the government to commit resources

into freeing these children.

These are not hidden situation.

You have an anti-human trafficking unit of Ghana Police Service,

which is great.

But they don't have resource.

They don't even have a boat to rescue children.

So why is the government doing so little?

Hello, how are you?

Fine, thank you.

Thanks for having me.

You're welcome.

You're aware there's this trafficking that goes

on in the country, but you don't have any rescue missions

or operations to prevent this from taking place.

The government is doing a lot.

What we do is co-ordinate, what we do is train our district

functionaries to monitor whatever is going on and report.

The police are there.

They are doing all that they can to rescue the children.

The police are not rescuing the children.

They are not? No.

The challenge is also the shelters, where to keep the children.

The challenge is also the shelters, where to keep the children.

They're not well resourced.

So, sometimes putting the children in those shelters sometimes even

looks worse than if they leave them or give them to NGOs.

It's left to charities like Challenging Heights

to rescue these children.

14-year-old Dampson is doing well.

He's no longer living with his aunt and has moved in with his dad.

He's a good boy?

A good boy.

It's still a struggle, but now Dampson has a place

he can call home.

Where do you sleep?

Is it nice for you to finally be home?

Dampson has the chance of a bright future, unlike the thousands

of children still trapped in slave labour on Lake Volta.

For now, their only hope lies in the small charities prepared

to do battle on their behalf.

I want to see a Ghana where every child has the capacity to dream

about his or her future.

I want to see justice for every child that was once enslaved.

Hello there.

Compared with some other parts of Europe our weather

is very quiet indeed.

We had some rain and drizzle pushing southwards during the day yesterday.

Some breaks in the cloud later, perhaps in Scotland,