Akonta, Togo, Togo
Friends of the teen-aged male victim returned home with money after working in Nigeria for a year. So they put him in touch with the local waga or child trafficker of the area. He claimed life was too hard in Togo and urged the teen to go to Nigeria to make money, promising him the equivalent of $200 for a year's hard labor in the fields. He and his younger brother knew their parents would not agree, so they climbed on a truck bound for Nigeria with 8 other boys from their village. The trip took 8 days, waiting for passengers some days along the way. The boys could afford to eat nothing but ground manioc. Gradually the truck gathered over 100 people, mostly men and boys, all headed to Shaki in the Oyo State of Nigeria. In Shaki, the boys rotated hard labor in the fields around the town, the crops changing with the seasons. They constructed a simple wooden hut to live in and slept on straw on the floor with a platic tarp over it. They worked every day from before dawn until after dark. They were given quotas of work, and if they did not meet them, their wages were docked or they were beaten or both. Under the harsh conditions the victim's brother died. After that the victim escaped and found a way home. He now has the same financial difficulties as before. He counsels local teens not to seek work in Nigeria and some have listened.