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.
3 comments:
Thank you for sharing the lives of children like Emmanuel with us. May the Lord continue to give you all His resources to rescue these children. I hope one day you can put this all in a book. My prayers continue to be with you.
Yes, we will pray with you
Randy, I'm Patrick Cone's mom, & he told us all about his trip when we were with him this past weekend. We cried over Emmanuel, & seeing his picture just now has opened the tear ducts again. I sure do understand how you lay awake that night (& more), because I'm here in Arkansas & can't get it out of my mind night or day.
Our family is praying for a God-solution to this horrific situation. Please let George & George Jr. know how much we love them.
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