Ghana’s Disposable Children
Ian Berry
Magnum Photos
In Ghana on Lake Volta children as young as 4-5 years are sold by their parents to local fishermen. This practice has been going on in the region for centuries. Children are useful to fishermen for their nimble fingers which are used amongst other things to unpick nets. After being sold into slavery to the fishermen they receive no education, work long hours and are not generally not well treated, living off of the cast offs of food from the adults table. A fisherman may have between 2 and 4 children working for him.
Preview
Ian Berry visited some of these fishermen with George Achibra - a former teacher and local man who has made it his mission to try to educate fishermen that this is no way to treat children, emphasizing the need for education and health. He has in the last few months, begun to speak with fishermen and persuade them to give the children to him to look after. One of the problems he has is what to offer the fishermen in exchange for taking the children away; the International Labour Organization offers some financial help. George takes the children to his home / hostel where he feeds and educates them for a few weeks. George’s aim is to repatriate the children with their families. The first public repatriation, of a dozen children, was held at the same time as Berry’s visit. Not surprisingly the children are scared to go back to the families who originally sold them. The families themselves appear despondent about receiving the child back, as it is another mouth for them to feed. The International Labor Organization provides the families with some resources, bags of clothes and food, that are given to them as the children are returned. The families appear to be more interested in these than their children. The story poses many questions, for example, is this too naïve a form of intervention and are families likely to be encouraged to sell their offspring if they know they will receive goods upon repatriation?
Ian Berry
