Missionary Sisters in Ghana: Raising Awareness Against Human Trafficking
“We educate them on some of the tricks that perpetrators use to achieve their goals,” said Sister Joy Abuh, Talitha Kum Network representative for Ghana
Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary are conducting an anti-trafficking awareness program in schools in Kwahu Afram Plains, in the eastern part of the African country
An awareness-raising program against human trafficking has been organized by Talitha Kum Network, in Donkorkrom, for schools within the northern plains district of Kwahu Afram, in the eastern West African region of Ghana. The course is supported by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, an international congregation of women religious. The sisters’ mission is to reach out to people experiencing any kind of hardship, especially the poor, oppressed and exploited. The course is led by Sister Joy Abuh, Talitha Kum’s representative in Ghana.
Sister Joy Abuh with students from St. Michael’s Junior High School in Donkorkrom raising their hands against human trafficking after an awareness class at the school on July 18, 2024.
Sister Joy visiting schools in Ghana
Sister Joy is a Nigerian missionary; she works as a school chaplain and teacher at Donkorkrom Agricultural Senior High School. Since the beginning of 2024, she has visited and continues to visit several schools in villages for outreach. Some of the schools where the campaign was recently conducted are St. Michael’s Junior High School, Donkorkrom, Atakora Basic School, Donkorkrom, St. Mary’s Vocational/Technical Senior High School, Adeemra, and Donkorkrom Agricultural Senior High School.
The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness among students about the disturbing prevalence of various forms of human trafficking in communities. “We educate them about some of the tricks that perpetrators use to achieve their goals, such as giving them the false belief that they will find work in the cities and save enough money to take care of their families back home,” Sister Joy said.
The nun also pointed out some of the dangers inherent in trafficking, ranging from prostitution, street trading, indentured servants or what could be called “modern slavery,” without the ability to go to school, against their will, which the team brought to the attention of the students in the schools visited. “We advised them to be vigilant,” he added, ”and also to be guardians of their brothers by reporting to the designated authority for protection, suspicious incidents of human trafficking, child labor/marriage and other forms of abuse.
Suor Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR