Kojo

I am only 20 years-old and I feel as though I have both lived a lifetime and just started life.

For the first 15 years, I was used by adults who were supposed to take care of me. I spent a lot of time wondering why I had to experience so much suffering. I am now beginning to figure out who I am and know I will figure out my purpose in life.

I was raised in a fishing community in the Volta Region of Ghana. I have very early memories of my mother, but by the time I was four years of age, she disappeared and I was provided no answers as to where she had gone.

My father had several wives and children that spanned many years. I am the youngest of all the children, with the oldest being 46 years my senior.

I was sent to live with one of my elder sisters, who was extremely abusive of me. She used me as a houseboy to run errands, clean, and tend to the cows. I was not allowed to sleep in the house and was forced to sleep outside, even in the heavy rains. I was often given only one meal per day.

After some time, I was sent to live with my father, who was very elderly and was blind. I was sent to be his eyes and care for him. I would wake before dark and be sent out to the lake to fish and then return home to care for my father.

When I was about 10 years of age, I heard about a big community meeting that was being held by an American woman who was the president of an organization that helped children in Ghana. She was coming to do research on our village, especially to learn about children who were fishing.

There were many volunteers who were interviewing adults and children about fishing on the lake. When it came to my turn, I was asked questions and answered them as honestly as I could. The adults around me started getting upset and shouting at me. They were trying to control what I would say to the Americans.

The president of the organization, Jennifer, approached the table to ask what was the problem. She recognized that the other adults were trying to intimidate me. Jennifer asked the officer from the Department of Social Welfare if he would investigate my home situation.

We moved to my father’s house where the officer interviewed my father and discovered that my elder siblings had made me be a full-time caretaker to my father. I was not allowed to attend school consistently and was forced to work in a dangerous job on the lake.

The officer wanted me to be transferred to a children’s home, where I could attend school, but my father would not comply, because he relied on me. He said that he would find a way for me to attend school, and the officer said he would return to follow up on my situation.

My siblings were afraid by what had happened, and instead of sending me to school they took me from my father. They sent me to one of the harshest working environments on the lake. Afram Plains is one of the busiest places on the lake for the fishing industry, and the fishermen are protective of their livelihood. They can be very aggressive to outsiders and abusive of the children who are enslaved.

My time on the lake was miserable and is a memory I try to forget but keeps resurfacing in my thoughts and dreams. I was forced to go under the water to detangle nets, haul fish, scoop water out of boats that leaked, given little food, suffered from illnesses that went untreated, and even knew of some boys who had died on the lake. All I wanted was to leave that life and go to school.

After some time, a man came to get me. He was a man from my village who was also a fisherman. He said he had been sent by the social welfare officer and the American woman I had met in my village. I was relieved to leave Afram Plains.

I was taken to a children’s home and at first I was very happy when I saw the facilities. I would finally be able to sleep in a bed, be given food, and attend school. I met some children, and we became fast friends.

I soon learned that the children’s home was not the happy place I thought it would be. The director of the orphanage was a corrupt man. He pretended to be a good man, who cared for children, and the volunteers who came to the orphanage believed him. They gave him money that they believed was being used for the children, but the director used some of it for his family and to build businesses for himself.

The director regularly beat the children, threatened us, and made us all feel very fearful of him. If we disobeyed him, we would be beaten or locked in a room without food for days. When volunteers were not there, he forced us to walk miles to the river and back to fetch water to mix cement, carry cement blocks, and construct the buildings for his businesses. We were removed from school to do hard labor for him. The director used me as an assistant and never let me attend classes with the rest of the children when they were not being used as laborers.

Some of the children were able to get out of the orphanage, and I heard it was with the help of Jennifer. I wanted her to help me, but I didn’t know how to contact her. One day, I was in the dorm room and saw a piece of paper on the ground. When I picked it up and turned it over, it read “Jennifer” with her phone number. I felt hope again.

Living at the orphanage meant that I could not trust anyone. I didn’t have a phone and was afraid to ask for one in fear that someone might tell the director. I finally got the courage to ask a teacher if I could borrow his phone. It was very early in the morning when the director was sleeping, and I knew it was in the middle of the night in America, but I called anyway hoping Jennifer would pick up the phone for an unknown number.

I couldn’t believe it when I heard Jennifer say, “hello.” I told her my name and then I heard her voice become excited. She told me that she had no way to reach me the last couple of years and prayed that I would find a way to call her.

Jennifer explained to me that she had been trying very hard to get the police to investigate what was happening at the orphanage, and the director had bribed the police to stop the investigation. She said she managed to get the orphanage changed to a charity school so that the director would not have legal rights over the children living there.

Jennifer tried to help me understand that the director could not keep me there against my will and asked me to walk out of the school and meet her coordinator in town. He would take me to the police to make a report. I was too frightened to do what she asked of me. I feared if the director caught me he would beat me badly.

Jennifer asked if there was a family member I trusted who could come help me. I told her that an older brother could help and I would find a way to call him.

A few days passed, and I called Jennifer in the middle of the night again to say that my brother was there. I was still afraid to leave because I knew the director would fight to keep me because I was one of his hardest workers. During the conversation, I told Jennifer that my head hurt a lot, because the director had gotten mad at me the day before and hit me over the head with a hammer.

Jennifer was very concerned and said I need to leave right then and go to a hospital. She told me she would arrange it. One of the Dream On coordinators showed up at the charity school with the police. There was a big argument between the police and the director. The police explained to the director that my elder brother had every right to remove me from the school and take me home. The director was extremely angry and shouting that I should stay.

I finally walked away from the charity school as a free person, but my journey toward a peaceful existence was far from over.

I was treated at the hospital and then taken to my village to see my grandmother. She was the only person in my family that I truly trusted after how I had been treated by my siblings. When I explained what had happened to me, she gave permission for me to go live in the Dream On Home.

I moved to the home, where I was reunited with some of my friends from the charity school. Finally, I enrolled in school where I was able to attend full time. I was able to be a student and a teenager without being used for work, but my abuse on the lake continued to haunt my dreams and my physical body.

One day, I was in terrible pain and taken to the hospital for many tests. It was discovered that I had a parasitic worm in my bladder called bilharzia. The parasite is found in fresh water sources and had entered my body when I was enslaved in the fishing industry on Lake Volta. It took years for the eggs to spread and the worms to grow. If I was not in the Dream On Home when this was discovered, I may never have received treatment and it would have made me very sick and possibly cause my death.

Although I felt safe and cared for at the home, I continued to wrestle with my thoughts and have nightmares about my past life. I especially wanted answers to questions that had haunted me since childhood — What happened to my mother? Did she abandon me?  Did she not love me?  Why did she never come to find me?  Why did my siblings abuse me?  Was I not lovable?  Was I cursed?

Recently, Jennifer encouraged me to find the answers to my questions. We located my mother and I was able to talk with her on the phone. My mother and I talked for 5 hours. She explained that it was my sister who had tricked her and stolen me from her.

When I was four years old, my sister went to my mother and told her she was taking me to my father’s house for a short visit. Instead, she took me to her home where she had used me as a houseboy. My mother had made a report at the police station and tried to search for me, but never found me. She lived with the despair of not knowing where I was and if I was safe.

I have now visited with my mother and met an entire side of my family that I didn’t even know existed. After losing me for so many years, my mother was afraid to let me go again; however, she knew that I needed to return to the Dream On Home and complete high school.

This year, I will finish high school. When I was on the lake and in the orphanage, I prayed for this moment. My heart feels less heavy and though I still have obstacles to overcome, I finally have some peace and hope for a better future.