How a child becomes a slave
After the flooding of the Akosombo Dam in the 1960s, the Volta Region became a prime location for fishing. The gradual depletion of fish is one of the reasons why children are needed as workers; their small fingers are useful in working on the increasingly smaller nets – in addition to the cheap labor they provide.
As with much of Africa, there is a great deal of poverty in Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many mothers in an unimaginable position: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to the lake where they become child slaves.