Facts About Human Trafficking

Learn About Slavery on Lake Volta in Ghana, West Africa

There are an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide. Over 7,000 children – some estimates are even as high as 27,000 - are exploited daily on the waters of Lake Volta. This high concentration of trafficked children is startling to see on the largest man-made lake in the world.

When the lake was completed in 1965-1966, the waters flooded the river valley of the Volta Region, once a beautiful and prosperous agrarian society full of small villages and farms. Without warning, hundreds of people were displaced by the flood. Many were killed. Today, all the communities around the lake have economies gripped by poverty. Lake Volta, now overfished, is the only source of income for most communities along the shores.

Because of the extreme poverty in lake communities and the lack of education, many families feel that they have no choice but to sell their children to fishermen. Sometimes, deceived by the fishing masters, they believe that their sons and daughters are learning a trade; it becomes an apprenticeship of sorts. Yet the lives that these children live once trafficked can be called nothing but slavery.

How Can I Help?

Touch A Life Foundation is the first non-governmental organization in Ghana to provide long-term housing, education and care to trafficked children rescued from Lake Volta. Because we provide long-term care, we are invested in the success of each child, their welfare, education, medical care, and psychosocial development.