Sex Trafficking2002
Ghana GH
Two NGO’s, Every Child Ministries and Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement, cooperated to negotiate the liberation of all the Aklidokpo shrine slaves. This was facilitated by the fact that the shrine priest had died, so the shrine owners and elders agreed to liberate rather than enstooling a new priest. The liberation was a public event in which the shrine owners signed an agreement that slavery was ended in that place, all their slaves were freed, and they would never again take in slaves to the shrine. In this case a 69 year old woman was freed who had spent most of her life in shrine slavery. She suffered greatly while in servitude and feared that she would never get out alive. After the liberation, when ECM counselors first visited her, she was very sick, but she recovered and is now in good health.
Sex Trafficking2002
Ghana GH
The Aklidokpo traditional shrine near Adidome, N. Tongu District, Volta Region of Ghana practiced a form of slavery popularly called trokosi, but called ritual or customary servitude by the government of Ghana. In this system, shrine priests take in young virgins as a sort of “living sacrifices” in an attempt to make atonement for a crime allegedly committed by a male member of the family. The priest of the Aklidokpo shrine died, and rather than enstooling a new priest, the shrine owners and elders of the community agreed to liberate their slaves and end the practice in that place. In this case an 18 year old woman was freed from shrine slavery. Taken into slavery at an early age, she was denied education and is unable to read. She had received partial release and married at an early age, but this arrangement did not end her slavery. The shrine still controlled who she married and where she lived and travelled, and she was fined for the least mistake and required to attend the annual festival every year and to bring sacrifices so expensive that getting them together still dominated her life all year long. The marriage did not last long. The husband abandoned her while she was pregnant because someone told him he should not have married a trokosi. Then she lost the child as well. At the beginning of counseling, the victim was extremely bitter. After liberation she decided to become a Christian, which caused her family, which follows African traditional religion, to turn against her. The victim feels very lonely.
Sex Trafficking2001
Ghana GH
The practice of ritual or customary servitude was outlawed in Ghana in 1998, but no one has ever been prosecuted under the law. Rather, the practical implementation of the law has fallen largely to NGO's who have facilitated the shrines in ending the practice. Two NGO's, Every Child Ministries Ghana and International Needs Ghana negotiated with the Gborble shrine and educated them as to the issues over a span of over a year, finally winning the approval of the shrine for the liberation of all its trokosi slaves on January 31, 2003. The liberation was a public event in which the shrine freed the slaves and agreed to end the practice of ritual servitude in that place. In this case a 70 year old woman was sent into shrine slavery when she was too young to remember her age, and spent most of her life in servitude. She was later told that her grandfather had got into a quarrel with someone over a palm plantation, and the other party had cursed their family at the shrine. When family members died, it was believed that they needed to present a young virgin girl to atone for the grandfather’s crime by living a life of slavery. The victim was not the only very young girl at the shrine. Three others of her age range were there at the same time. Her duties included sweeping the compound, gathering firewood from the forest, selling firewood at the market, and working the priest’s farm with a short-handled hoe. The priest received all the money and all the crop. The victim was plagued by hunger, so she sometimes picked unripe mangoes and hid them under leaves in the forest until they ripened. She was very angry at her family for sending her into servitude. After many years of enslavement in the shrine she was given partial release, but this arrangement did not end her slavery. The shrine still controlled who she married and where she lived and travelled, and she was fined for the least mistake and required to attend the annual festival every year and to bring sacrifices so expensive that getting them together still dominated her life all year long. This victim was one of 264 who were liberated that day along with their children (a joint liberation involving three shrines of which Dzoli was one).