On April 9-16, 2011 and June 25-July 2, 2011, MMDR (www.mmdr.org) hosted teams to Kete Krachi, Ghana, located on Lake Volta. The purpose of these two trips was to support the efforts of the Touch a Life Foundation and their partners, Ghanaian anti-trafficking crusaders George Achibra, Sr. & Jr., dedicated to rescuing trafficked children from the fishing industry on Lake Volta. To learn more, please visit www.touchalifekids.org.

The role of MMDR in these efforts is to undergird George’s efforts in building relationships with the various islands in the lake and, directly or indirectly, provide a negotiating tool with the slave masters and village leaders. He can promise free medical clinics or to provide clean water for the entire island. To be sure, free medical clinics and clean water are in and of themselves very good things. But when you’re providing them to support efforts to take children out of slavery, it adds a new and very compelling dimension.

 

April’s trip was quite a dramatic and no doubt blessed one. We saw the fruition of George’s hard work and persistent negotiation for the release of specific children as well as the surprise, spontaneous release of a few upon the first meeting. Six children were released from slavery in three days. Six! That’s not a normal work week for anyone, not even a man who does this day in and day out. I think God just knew there’s something wonderful about having a boatful of women, mostly mothers, to usher a scared child who doesn’t understand exactly what’s going on from one hopeless life of danger to a new one of promise and security. More than once, I saw these women reach out their hands across the boat’s side toward a child as George nodded his head to them to pull this innocent and traumatized creature from their master’s boat to ours. Any reservations a child must have had about boarding a boat full of pale faces and riding away must have melted completely after a few minutes of being completely enveloped by unreserved love and gentle hugs and kisses. The candy probably didn’t hurt, either! Often before we made it back to the dock they would be sound asleep in a lap, their heads caressed gently while their bodies rested in complete security for the first time in, most likely, years.

A quick word about the women on this trip. I was curious how it would work; a team of eight women and two men in Africa. What I found in these women was no surprise: extreme kindness and compassion – given foundation by the strength and authority reserved for warriors. They were not the least bit afraid of a slave master because of a firm confidence and security in their own Master.  I am a better woman for having spent a week with them and often find myself craving their communion.

We spent a pretty good amount of time on the island of Bakpa. This is a community that George had already formed a good relationship with their chief who, it turns out, is not only chief of his village but of his whole island on Lake Volta and is quite the man-about-town in Kete Krachi. Chief Parka is a good and charismatic leader to his people and has formed a covenant with George to renounce the use of child slavery and even to join in the fight against it. This is such a wonderful development because now Bakpa will serve as a model to other villages who are either actively involved in the use of trafficked children or are complacent about it. While the rest of the team conducted a medical clinic for everyone in the village, David Vanderpool and I worked with George on the water tank. With the help of some of the men we raised and leveled it off the ground with rocks. Then the women brought big dishes full of lake water – on their heads – in a line to fill the tank. I expected it to take a couple of hours but these people worked, even the men joined in, and within an hour they had carried 900 gallons of water on their heads and filled the tank.

In celebration, the village provided us with percussive music and dancing. This lasted for at least two hours and probably would have gone much longer had we not had to leave.

Fast forward to late June. A few of the same women from April’s trip returned as well as a group of young veterans from Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. I’m awed at the life experiences these young people have amassed and the futures that still await them. The hard-working can-do attitude that we identify with our prized military personnel was in full supply with this group as well as an abundant dose of humor.  It was a pleasure to work alongside them.

The June trip may not have been as dramatic as the April trip but it was no less successful and no less blessed. A team member put it perfectly when she said in April we saw the culmination of much work and seed-planting when we saw the release and liberation of those six precious children. This trip we did more groundwork and seed-planting for the nurturing of future relationships and the future release of more children.

Below are the six children rescued in April.

Below are those same children in late June.

That’s what it’s all about.

The medical team conducted clinics on three different islands, and I’m a little light-headed to say that we purified 900 gallons of water on each island as well. The first was our beloved Bakpa and the other two, Mariapo and LaLa, were previously unwelcoming communities. We went to Mariapo in April and the dark spirit there was easily identifiable. They weren’t hostile but were markedly less warm & welcoming than Bakpa. I’m told that LaLa was downright hostile back in November. But George’s efforts since then have been well-appointed  and the reception on both islands were markedly more open as George used MMDR’s services of medical care and water purification as a relationship builder and peace-generating agent. Both Mariapo and LaLa are suspected of utilizing the services of trafficked children. George makes it clear that his goal is to gain a covenant with each village to cease this activity. It will take a change of heart in the respective chiefs and the people. But it happened on Bakpa and we know that with God’s grace it can happen in both these places. Mariapo has already shown a slight change in their attitude toward us. As with any process, it takes time and is all about the relationships. You may be wondering why George or anyone else would even care about nurturing a relationship with a community that uses child slave labor. He, his organization, and we are operating under the belief that it’s the best way to make a lasting change. To use force would drive the “industry” further underground and make the masters, and ultimately the children, even harder to reach. Not to mention the obvious fallacy of fighting violence with violence. It takes a gut-wrenching amount of time and forces difficult decisions at times. But love can and will change lives in any situation. We’re watching it happen!

Shalom, y’all.