Leaving Emmanuel

The plan for our day on Lake Volta was to travel to a number of villages and work with the village leaders – trying to convince them that child trafficking was not acceptable and that they needed to release the children to us so that they could get a good education.

We did eventually make it to a number of villages, but along the way we kept coming across canoes filled with these young souls – slowly about their business of dropping, then retrieving their nets.

We had finally started to make progress when I saw a canoe with a particularly small little shadow in it. I asked George if we could go check on the boy and as we pulled up to the boat I felt my level of commitment to this project going to a whole new level.


Emmanuel and one other slightly older boy sat frozen as we pulled up. George instinctively stepped over from our canoe to theirs and sat right next to the boy. As he did I realized from the perspective of George right next to him, how small Emmanuel was – perhaps maybe four years old.

Emmanuel was visibly shivering from the cool morning breeze. George felt his chest and said that he was running a temperature.

Where was his mother? Why wasn't he in a bed somewhere sipping on hot soup and watching cartoons while he got feeling better? Why was he sitting here in the middle of this lake while he was cold, sick, and probably hungry?

One of the greatest acts of compassion I've ever seen came next. George, Jr, George's 27-year-old son and assistant in this rescue effort took off his own shirt and threw it to George to put on the boy.

George talked both to the boy and then to the leader of the group, getting as much information about where the master lives and where the boy originally came from. This is all information that would be needed to later rescue both boys.

But that day there was nothing more we could do. George climbed back into our boat, we handed the boys a couple of suckers, and we left.

This morning as I write, Emmanuel is still out on the Lake.

And that is why we must keep working.

Please pray right now for Emmanuel, for Moses, for Kwasi, for George and George, Jr, and for all those who are fighting for the trafficked children around the world.

Emmanuel - God is with us. May it be so.

Diving into the dark

Our actual day out on the lake was Tuesday, August 19th. I'm not sure I will ever forget that day.

We pushed off in a motor-powered canoe and immediately started coming across other canoes in which men and boys were about their business of retrieving their nets. It was an overcast morning with a cool breeze blowing across the lake.

One of the first boats we pulled up to was a boat with an older (18 or 19 year old) boy and three younger boys – probably ranging in age from 9 to 13, most likely all trafficked. We saw that the leader was hoping down into the water to untangle the net. I had heard stories of this but it was very uncomfortable to watch as the boy disappeared into the dark water of Lake Volta for what seemed like several minutes.


As he was underneath the surface the youngest boy pulled on the net, although he had one eye on the strangers that had pulled up next to the boat. When the older boy made it to the surface and saw the young boy distracted he barked at him, probably to focus on his job and pull harder.

Seeing that they were in no mood to talk we slowly backed away and headed to another boat. Finding others was not a problem as they were everywhere. It was difficult to navigate the lake because of all of the nets. So many boats, so many nets that the once productive lake has now become over fished and it is hard for the masters to make a living. Their answer, it seems, is more boats, more nets – which require more trafficked children.

As you read this story please be thinking with us on how to solve this problem. Touch A Life is committed to help them, but it is overwhelming to think about how you change the whole culture and move this remote economy away from this downward spiral.

Tomorrow – Emmanuel.

A boy named Moses

The trip from Accra to Kete-Krachi was an adventure in itself – 15 hours, about half of which were on some of the worst dirt roads I've ever been on. George Achibra, who is leading the effort to rescue the kids off of Lake Volta, greeted us in Kete-Krachi. To date, between the work he is doing with Touch A Life and other groups, he has rescued over 150 children.

After resting for a while, George took us down for our first glance at Lake Volta. We would head out early the next morning for a long day on the lake, but he wanted us to get a feel for it before we went.

As we pulled up and got out we saw a mixture of beauty and business. The sun was getting low in the sky, so the lake was alive with color and because Kete-Krachi is gathering point for many of the remote villages, there was a beehive of activity as people loaded canoes to go home for the day.

Yet in all of this activity it was easy to spot the fishing boats, usually with three or four shadows slowly paddling or bringing in their nets.

One such boat came up to shore and we could see that two of the three occupants were young boys. George slowly walked over to talk to them while we at first kept our distance. After a few minutes of conversation George waved us over and introduced us to Moses and Kwasi – two boys who had been sold by their families. Kwasi, now around 12 years old was sold several years back for a "she cow." For that cow Kwasee must now get up at 2 am every morning and go out onto the lake to fish. After about five hours of first setting out and then gathering their nets, they would come back to the village to mend and prepare their nets so that they can repeat the process in the late afternoon and early evening.

Kwasi and Moses likely get one or possibly two meals a day, but these meals are mainly carbohydrates, which the master knows will give them the energy they will need to paddle all day.


Moses broke our hearts. As you can see from the picture above he obviously had something going on in his stomach – possibly a hernia. If it were a hernia, it really wouldn't surprise me because his young 8 or 9-year-old body surely wasn't meant to do the work it is having to do.

George told us that it is not unusual for these kids to die from this work. Some die when they are forced to go down to the bottom of the lake to untangle the net and get caught up in it themselves. More likely, though, they die from injuries and diseases that simply go untreated, such as parasites, malaria, and infections.

After about forty-five minutes of talking with the boys George had everything he needed to go visit their master the next day. We said our goodbyes and watched them push off to go finish their night's work.

We went back to George's house to get some sleep, but sleep was hard to find that night as I thought about these two boys. Instead of sleeping in a warm bed they were probably sleeping out under the stars on the bare ground, soon to be woken up to start a new day on the lake.

Join me on Lake Volta...

While in Ghana this last week, I was able to break off from the art and music camp for a few days and go up north to see firsthand how the children are being trafficked out onto the lake, to talk at length with our rescue partners, and to see the progress of the new rehabilitation center that will be used for the kids that we rescue. Over the next couple of days I hope to take you on a journey. My prayer is that somehow I can convey to you a part of what I saw.

While there is a wide range of estimates about how many children there are actually on the lake, I can just tell you this - they are everywhere. At one point I looked around me and counted 25 canoes. As we went from boat to boat I realized that there were at least two trafficked children in each canoe. While that is just 50 children, you have to understand that Lake Volta is the largest man made lake in the world. The little section we could see represents less than 1% of the total of the whole lake. I feel the number could easily be in the thousands.

Please come back over the next few days and I will take you on a journey that the whole world needs to see.

- Randy

Art/Music Camp

Where do I begin..........this is my fourth trip to Ghana in 18 mos and my love for the country and the kids continues to grow deeper with each trip. I will start out by posting the art/music pictures and share the stories of how much fun we had hanging out with the Village of Hope children all week. We had the most amazing group of volunteers that brought great attitudes and big hugs to the art camp. The children were blessed with choices of art, music, dance, and photography classes.

Below are pictures of Van and Tatum bonding with their new friends in Ghana. I have to tell you that adopted Asian children with white parents are not a common sight seen at Village of Hope. All the children had many questions about Van and Tatum being in Ma Pam's tummy. I don't think they have it figured out but all embraced one another and friendships were formed that will last a lifetime, I am sure.

Tatum with Sara and Hagar


Van with his new BFF Ishmael


Van also offered fencing lessons to anyone interested.

Ghana BOUND

Randy and I are heading to Ghana today. We are taking Van and Tatum, our two nine year olds, Jill, my niece and Ivy Shepherd, a friend of the family. We are expecting great things to happen this week. We will be meeting 17 volunteers in New York that will join us on the trip. We have so many talented people that will sharing their creative gifts this week with the children. There will be classes on photography, sculpting, watercolor, dance and music at the Village of Hope. There will be tons of stories and pictures when I return. Thanks to all who continue to support Touch A Life.

Left Behind

This picture was taken last spring when I was in Ghana. It is a constant reminder of the boys that we have left behind still working as slaves on Lake Volta. Hopefully we will soon rescue the 20 boys that have been targeted for this fall.

It has been exciting buying new backpacks and school supplies for our trip next week. Randy and I will be taking Van and Tatum, our two nine year olds with us on this trip. They are eager to join us on this journey and help with the art/music camp. It is their first trip to Ghana and we are anxious for them to meet the children who they consider their Ghanian brothers and sisters.

I want to thank all the supporters of TAL for making Phase II possible. The Village of Life is completed and we will soon have 20 children that will have a place to call home. There will be many pictures posted to update the work when I return. Have a great week.

Left Behind

What season are you in?

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

1 For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3 A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8 A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.


Ecclesiastes 3