Day 1: Akwaaba!

Johnbull and Stacy Omorefe, the founders of CORM, picked me up from the airport last night. I immediately felt a sense of belonging. I got to know them a little better in the van ride back to CORM. Johnbull is from Nigeria and Stacy is from South Dakota. I asked them how many kids they had to which they responded “3 biological, 4 adopted, and about 70 more..”

Johnbull and Stacy started CORM after seeing an article in the New York Times about Human Trafficking along Lake Volta, a major lake in Ghana. They had met one another in Ghana while on a separate mission trip. Upon seeing this article, they knew that returning to Ghana was God’s plan for their lives.  And so in 2006, City it Refuge Ministries Children Village began and has been building ever since. 

There are three parts to Human Trafficking: prevention, intervention, and restoration.
Prevention
With all major issues, epidemics, outbreaks, or whatever the case may be, the key is to stop it at its roots. With human trafficking, single moms are where it begins. They often lack the necessary skills and income to adequately provide for multiple children and thus feel the need to turn to other options.
In the 1960s, Lake Volta was built and created business opportunities for fishermen. This Lake had an abundance of expensive fish to sell and profit from, fishermen just had to ensure that they caught the fish. They would take kids for years at a time to work on the lake and this continues today. Some times, but rarely, these kids are returned to their mothers later on as often promised.

One promise that is never fulfilled is that these children are supposedly receiving an education while at the lake. Slave masters lead them to believe this so that mothers will be more willing to let their child or children go. The most essential part of prevention is education. Parents need to be made aware of what goes on at the Lake. Kids work 12 hours a day with one meal. They are constantly getting seriously injured from unsafe working conditions. One boy bent over to reach into the water for a net and a stick was poking out and poked him in the eye. He was rushed to the hospital and needed immediate surgery. In addition to all of the injuries, there is a parasite in the water that aggressively attacks organs. This can cause the children to urinate blood. Skin and heart diseases have also originated from the lake’s water.  

Intervention
In 2000, an Anti-trafficking law was passed: The Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  This act officially prohibited all forced labor, involuntary servitude, and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.  Following this act, it was a much more legalized process to rescue children from the lake. Many fishermen did not realize what they were doing was illegal. However, human trafficking still continues today. The government will do raids on the lake and rescue hundreds of children at a time.

Restoration
This is where City of Refuge Ministries comes in. They foster, feed, and educate kids that were trafficked. There are currently around 70 children that live here in Children’s Village. They started a school that meets the individual needs of each child. Many of them will begin their education for the first time at a much later age like 13 since they spent their previous years old the lake. CORM helps them meet the education level that they are supposed to be at, and boy are they eager to learn. This year, CORM will have their 4th graduating class. Then they head off to high school. Also this year, CORM will have previous rescued children/students, graduating from high school for the first time since CORM began. There is no doubt that this will be the case each year from here on out.

In addition to children, mothers are also fostered as I explained in a previous post. CORM teaches moms sewing, literacy, cooking, and basic skills all while their children are attending school. After a couple years, the moms will graduate from this sponsorship program with proper skills, a sewing machine, a little money, and thus a business to sustain themselves and their children with. 

There are 50 staff members at CORM, 20 of which are teachers. They keep their class sizes below 22 students so that it is more personal and interactive. In addition to counseling services, each staff member is trained to be cautious and caring of the psychological, physical, and sexual abuse that many of the children come to CORM with. 


I heard some personal accounts of children today. All of the following names are fictitious for confidentiality reasons. I asked Johnbull if it was okay to share these stories on my blog and he encouraged me to talk about them and spread the word about the horrors and dangers behind human trafficking. 

Daniel spent five years at the lake, I am unsure what age he first started. His daily job was to remove water from the boat. He said several children would die (“their story had a different ending”) because they didn’t know how to swim.  He, and several others, said one of the most challenging tasks was removing the net (of fish) from the water. The water would often be too rough or deep and children could not handle it. Daniel, 6 foot Daniel, is now being recruited to play basketball in high school. 

Alexa escaped from her master 3 times. One time; however, her slave master caught her and her bestfriend. He eventually stabbed her bestfriend and Alexa finds it very hard to move on because the escape was her idea and got her bestfriend killed. 

Ryan was 8 years old when he began work on the lake (some start as early as age 3). He said he was terrified every time he was forced to retrieve the net. It was too challenging and dangerous of a job for any kid.  He was rescued by CORM and began his education at age 13. He said that when he was on the lake he had no dream or idea of a future. Now, he says “when I’m grown I want to be a pastor. It is what God has planned for me and I want to do it.” Ryan will graduate high school on Tuesday and go on to the University. 

Madaasi (thank you) for reading! If you have any questions that you want me to ask Johnbull or Stacy I know that they will be more than happy to answer. For example, I asked where the funding for all of this came from. Their answer? God.