Metuchen High School students to hold relief effort for Ghanaian child slaves
Charity dinner/walk to buy freedom, education for three child slaves
BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer

METUCHEN - An effort spearheaded by students at Metuchen High School seeks to bring attention to the ongoing, modern use of slavery in the African nation of Ghana through a benefit dinner and charity walk.

Proceeds generated by these two events will go toward the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental body that specializes in issues of modern-day slavery.

The students, initially organized through a class led by teacher Evan Robbins, hope to raise about $13,000, which will go toward purchasing the freedom of three child slaves.

The IOM will bring them into an intense treatment program that includes both education and physical rehabilitation. Furthermore, the program gives the family a $250 micro credit loan so they can set up a small-scale business as an alternative to the situation in which families are sometimes forced into selling their children. Finally, the IOM attempts to reach the owners and educate them on conducting their businesses without the use of forced labor.

According to Marisa Dietrich, an 18- year-old senior at Metuchen High School, she and her classmates learned about child slavery in Ghana through the Political Institute class, taught by Robbins. Deciding that they wanted to help, the class began organizing relief efforts.

They will start with a fundraising dinner, sponsored by Fresco's Italian Deli, on April 14 at 7 p.m. at the high school, with a suggested donation of $10.

Following this will be a 5K walk on May 14 at noon beginning at the Edgar Middle School parking lot.

Dietrich said that while the effort began in her class, the entire school has now become involved, and that sponsors from around the area, such as the Metuchen Savings Bank and the local YMCA, have expressed an interest in supporting them. She said they are also reaching out to local houses of worship and hospitals.

The school did a similar walk for Darfuri refugees last year, and Dietrich said this year's walk will be "much more impressive" because students are building on their foundation of knowledge from organizing the previous one.

"We wanted to take the momentum …and make it better each year," said Dietrich.

Through the IOM, the cost to save a child slave and reintegrate them into their communities is about $4,256.

Ghana is one of many countries around the world that uses forced labor in at least some of its industries.

In the case of Ghana, children as young as 4 are forced to work on fishing boats, untangling nets or bailing out water. Globally, forced labor is also used in industries such as diamond mining, chocolate production, agricultural harvesting, garment manufacturing and many, many more. Products utilizing slave labor can find their way onto shelves in wealthier, industrialized areas such as Europe and the U.S.

Methods range from what most people traditionally would imagine slavery to be, to more complicated schemes such as debt slavery, where entire family lines find themselves in indentured servitude for generations, and contract slavery, where people, often illiterate, are tricked into legally binding agreements they don't understand.

In certain nations, children are also forced to serve as soldiers in wars, such as during the civil wars in Liberia. In many places, women and girls are either abducted or tricked into a life of prostitution, with violence and threats of violence keeping them bound.

According to United Nations statistics, the modern slave trade is a $9 billion industry. The U.S. State Department estimates that about 600,000 to 820,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year.