A member of Touch A Life’s Board of Directors just returned from a month’s visit to Ghana, primarily to the Volta Region where Pam Cope was involved in the rescue of an additional seven trafficked children last March.
But first, an update on the “Magnificent Seven”: Mark and his sister and their buddies are doing great at the Village of Hope in Feteh, just east of the capitol city, Acrra. The “Magnificent Seven” are incredibly happy and healthy. They all expressed how they missed “Mama Pam”. These seven no longer resemble a special group of “rescuees” nor do they think of themselves as trafficked children -- instead they blend beautifully into the Village of Hope family.
After church services on the first Sunday we succeeded in the difficult task of rounding them up a picture. Just look at those smiles!
However, most of the time was spent in the Kete Krachi area where you will recall Pam and George rescued the second “seven” this past March. “The Golden Village” is under construction so the children (plus others added since) have been staying with George and Anna Achibra for the past seven months.
Regina sleeps in the main house with George’s daughter, Erica, and the boys sleep in a dorm George created from his office.
You will remember Pam’s exciting story of the rescue in March. Soon after that (in July) three more child slaves – Famous, Macho and Sakorah – having been left without food, decided to row their boat eighteen nautical miles to Kete Krachi in search of their master. Found wandering around town, they were taken to the Police, who took them to George for Shelter. The master showed up looking for them and was arrested. After spending three days in jail, he claimed he had received permission from their parents to work on the lake and he was simply acting as an agent for them. He was released to bring the parents in to testify. As expected, he did not return and the boys remained with George.
Our man found the children to be happy, well fed, well disciplined. Madame Katherine, a retired principal and schoolteacher, teaches them English and math. Classes are held in a church building located across the street from The Golden Village.
Anna has been preparing seven to thirteen meals three times daily for the rescued children since March. They keep a busy schedule by starting each day with chores at six a.m., followed by a shower and breakfast.
Anna dispenses a myriad of medications directly after breakfast and again each evening after supper – sometimes by candlelight. All of the boys who have worked on the lake are ill. All except for one has malaria and they all have Bilhadzei, a urinary tract disease caused from diving in and drinking form Lake Volta. Ingesting the lake water causes irreversible scarring of the bladder. Side effects are blood in the urine and sever anemia. Most of the children also have bronchitis and gastritis. However, they are much healthier now than when the arrived!
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