Yayra's story:

A word from the co-founder of ECM & the originator of ECM's anti-slavery initiative, Lorella Rouster:

If you're like me, you once thought that slavery died a hundred and fifty years ago.  You're sad, angry & embarrased when you remember it.  You're glad it's gone.  But evil dies hard. A few years back, I learned that unfortunately slavery exists in many parts of the world even today. One of the most active places in the world for child slavery is West Africa.

There are several kinds of slavery. Some of it is based on exploiting children for free labor in order to make products cheap and profitable. Some of it is based on exploiting children for the sex and pornography markets. Some of it is based on cultural traditions involving the requirement of a young virgin girl in payment for the services of the priests in certain shrines of African traditional religion.

The horrific practice known as trokosi (troxovi, fiashidi, woryokwe, ritual servitude or voodoosi) combines elements of all three.  It is one of the worst forms of abusive child labor known, forcing young girls to work long days under harsh conditions for the benefit of the shrines, without remuneration and without even adequate food or medical care, separating them from family and friends, from love and all human affection, from every vestige of comfort and security.  It is sexual slavery in that the sexual organs of the idol priests are dedicated to the gods of the shrine, and she is considered a wife of the gods.  This gives the priests (and in practicality the shrine elders as well) sexual privileges with the young virgins.  The girls who have been forced into it call it rape.  It is child slavery because it enslaves children.  Although the trokosi slaves can be any age (children grow up), most are taken into slavery as young children, pre-adolescent or early adolescent youth.  The girls as well as the evil system that binds them is called trokosi, and it is securing their freedom that Every Child Ministries has undertaken as its first project in fighting child slavery.

Trokosi comes from the tribal Ewe (say Ay-vay) language and means "wives of the gods." The girls are considered to be wives of the idol god who is venerated at the shrine. In practical terms they are concubines and slaves of the priests of those shrines.

Are trokosi called by other names?

Many!  The most common are fiashidi, fetish slaves, or shrine slaves.  Ghanaian law refers to the practice as "ritual or customary servitude."  The Anti-Slavery Society refers to trokosi as "hierodulic" slaves because they combine the roles of an agricultural slave, domestic, temple and sex slaves. 

In French-speaking West African countries the practice is called "vaudounsi" with a variety of spellings--voodoosi, voudounsi, vudusi, vodounsi, vudusi,etc.  The differences in spelling represent different attempts of English speakers to approximate French sounds in their language.  The word "vodoun" means an idol "god" in the Fon language of Benin, the birthplace of the voodoo religion.  That is, vodoun speaks of a spirit other than the Ultimate Creator, a spirit who is represented by an image and who is worshipped.  Christians call these images idols.  So since "tro" and "voudoun" both mean idol "god", you can easily see that trokosi and vodounsi refer basically to the same thing.

The slaves are located in the southern portion of the Volta Region and some parts of Greater Accra in Ghana, extensively in Togo and Benin, and in small parts of Nigeria, all countries of West Africa. Only in Ghana have any of the slaves been liberated.

Through the efforts and influence of Christians, the practice of trokosi was outlawed in Ghana in 1998. However, it continues because it is not enforced. Ghanaians we have spoken with suggest that there are at least two reasons it is not enforced. The first is the government’s natural and appropriate reluctance to interfere with the customs of the people. The second and perhaps more powerful reason is the widespread fear that anyone who opposes the priests of the shrines will be cursed. The idols of many of the shrines are war gods obtained at a time when the people were seeking help in tribal wars over land issues. The basic function of the idols is to kill, so people live in abject fear of the shrines and the priests who serve there.

The problem of fear is illustrated in an interview a worker with another organization had a few years ago with the woman who was then the first lady of Ghana. "You speak up for women’s and children’s rights all the time," he said.  "Why do you not speak up for the trokosi slaves?"  She looked aghast and answered, "What? Do you want me to be killed?"

They have been liberated through the intervention of Christians and human rights groups who are willing to pay for their release and aid the girls after they are released to start a new life. Ghanaian nationals have been struggling to liberate these poor slave girls.  Now Every Child Ministries has joined with them in the project.

Admittedly it is very hard to count them because of the secrecy surrounding the shrines.  One survey estimated there were about 5,000 trokosi held in shrines in Ghana when Christians began to get involved in the 1980’s. On an average each trokosi slave ends up having an average of four children each as a result of being regularly raped by the priest. Although they are not technically considered trokosi, they also serve every whim of the priest without pay so they are in reality slaves as well. Considering this, the system involved about 25,000 lives in Ghana. The number of trokosi in Togo and Benin has never been counted.  Ritual slaves are commonly called Voodoosi in those countries.

About 3,000 trokosi have been freed through the intervention of Christians, thus freeing a total of 15,000 lives including children. As of this date, an estimated 2,000 remain bound to the shrines, involving slavery of 10,000 lives in Ghana alone, plus an untold number in the neighboring countries of Togo and Benin, and possibly some in scattered parts of Nigeria..

Horrendously, almost always. They are worked hard and denied food and/or whipped if they do not meet their scheduled quota of work. Usually this involves hoeing the priest’s fields all day with a short-handled hand hoe. The girls are made to understand that they will be cursed and die if they ever eat a single bite of grain from the fields. At night some of them stand over the priest, fanning him to keep away flies. At bedtime or whenever he desires, they are summoned for sexual services.

If they refuse or if they displease him or sometimes for no discernible reason at all, they are starved, whipped, or made to kneel for hours on shards of broken glass. They are never shown any affection, even when the priest is having sex with them. Many of the girls have confided to us that they felt absolutely worthless while in the trokosi system.  However, it must be admitted that practices vary from shrine to shrine.

Although many of the girls were taken into slavery just before or at puberty, many also were taken as young as four years old. We have met one who was taken so young that they had to make special arrangements for her mother to continue breastfeeding her. Of course, they grow up, and so trokosi on liberation may be any age. In addition, the girls have an average of four children each as a result of being regularly raped by the priest and sometimes by his relatives and shrine elders. These children are born into slavery. We have talked to many young adults for whom the dehumanizing life of the shrine form their earliest memories.

After liberation the girls who are of adult age are given the opportunity to receive vocational training.  Such opportunities are given by International Needs, Mutual Faith Ministries, and the Ghana Baptist Convention.  In these places, girls are given an introduction to various skills by which they can make a living, and specialize in one. They can learn dressmaking, soapmaking, dying cloth, baking, catering, hairdressing, or traditional kente cloth weaving. They also learn to cook traditional Ghanaian dishes in order to prepare them for normal life. At these centers, the girls also begin literacy training, receive counseling, attend chapel, and have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of them do choose to become Christians. After graduation, many of them go into business for themselves.

An attempt is made at reconciliation with their families, and this sometimes succeeds. Some of the girls are able to return to their home villages. At other times the families still refuse them. When the families refuse them and the girls are too young for the vocational training center, special efforts are made to place them with Christian families.  ECM's Haven of Hope orphanage home is another option for children needing refuge.  At present Haven of Hope has taken in two children whose slave mothers died due to the harsh realities of life in the shrine and another who was a trokosi herself.

A modest payment is made to the shrine for the liberation of all their slaves.  Although the shrine owners, priests and elders are certainly free to use the money as they please, some have said they would buy corn mills with which they make money, since in freeing the slaves the priest lose a way of making a profit. Some of the money is used to facilitate the negotiations which result eventually in the release of slaves and the ending of slavery in a given area. For instance, if the elders are widely scattered, ECM may pay the cost for them to come together to discuss the issue.  Some of the money is used for the large public liberation ceremony in which the girls are given their freedom. This is a public ceremony which facilitates the re-entry of the girls into the wider community. Finally, a good portion of the money is used for counseling and to help the girls start new lives after release.

This is certainly a legitimate concern, but an unnecessary fear. In Ghana, not one single shrine area has taken new slaves or re-enslaved former slaves after release. This is partly because of the 1998 law making trokosi a crime, and partly because of the way in which the slaves are freed. Rather than working for individual liberation, we work for a community-wide agreement to release all the slaves in given shrines and to end slavery permanently in those areas.  Because the commitment to end slavery is made so publicly and with written documentation, it is extremely hard for the shrines to go back on their word.  So don't worry.  Your "freedom money" does not perpetuate slavery, but helps to end it.

For thousands of years some of these tribes have been bound by idolatry. Now God has prepared a group of people who know first hand what idolatry is all about. They have seen it all close up. They have lived day by day with the priests. After these girls are released, do you think they want to have anything to do with idolatry? Not a chance!

Every girl is free to choose her religious affiliation, of course, and every one of them should and must be freed regardless of their religious choices or affiliations.  Many of these former slave girls, however choose Jesus Christ and become fiery and devoted followers of His. It is tragic that these girls underwent the sufferings that they did endure, but God is using it to open up a new and better way for the . This is a strategic project that helps individuals and beyond that, is opening up the Gospel for entire communities and areas.

These girls were used as human sacrifices in an attempt to atone for the sin of some male member of the family--usually a grandfather or uncle.  One priest told ECM workers that once a sin is committed, it has to be atoned for forever, until the end of time!  That is why, in the trokosi system, if a trokosi slave runs away or dies, she must be replaced by another virgin from her family.  We have met girls who have been the third and fourth person in their families to try to pay for the very same crime. 

Can you imagine what good news the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for a girl who has suffered such a fate?  The Scripture teaches that Jesus paid ALL our debt of sin FULLY and FOREVER.*(see below)  He made the final and complete sacrifice that God accepted, and that ended His anger forever.  There is no more need for human sacrifices to suffer and keep being replaced until the end of time.  Jesus has paid all our debt, and we can be free!  The message touches them powerfully.  It is incredibly good news!  No wonder so many accept it with such thankful hearts!

**Hebrews 7:24-27, 10:11-12 for two examples

How did Every Child Ministries get involved in this project?

During one of ECM’s teacher training seminars in 1999, an advocate for the trokosi came to our co-founder Lorella Rouster and began telling her about the problem. When she understood that African children were being enslaved, she was immediately interested. After all, Every Child Ministries is dedicated to offering hope to the forgotten children of Africa, and who is more forgotten than these poor slave children?  Lorella researched the issue and found that it was very real.  She grappled with what ECM could do, and proposed to our Board that we get involved.  They understood the importance of the issue and took a step of faith with Lorella, committing ECM to the issue.  Since then, we’ve been working together on this project and finding that an amazing synergy occurs when God’s people work together.

It is also interesting how Christian organizations got involved in the project. One group told Lorella that a new governor was appointed to the Volta Region some years back. He became concerned about the low level of development in the area and began to ask why in a fairly progressive country like Ghana one area should remain underdeveloped. After investigation, he began to realize that the underdevelopment was tied closely to beliefs and practices involving idolatry, and especially to the practice of slavery. Having come to that conclusion, he approached a mission to ask if Christians might be interested in working to stop the practice of trokosi slavery. This man was not even a Christian believer! Isn’t it amazing the insights that God gave him?

The main opponent of the liberation of the trokosi is the Afrikania Mission, sometimes called the Afrikan Renaissance Mission. The name "mission" makes it sound like a Christian group, but we have found that one of our workers made a pretty fair assessment of them. He said that they look for devotees of any god or goddess (but not the God of the Bible), and then seek to strengthen them.

The group was started by a Catholic priest named Damuah who became disenchanted with the church because of the strength of African traditional religion.  He ended up becoming a traditional idol worshipper and an outspoken critic of Christianity.  

The group maintains a considerable presence on the web and is very active in Ghana. Having many educated people on their team, they are constantly writing, presenting conferences on the glories of African traditional religion, and speaking their mind and this and that in the local papers. They have nothing good to say about Christianity.

Their line of reasoning is that trokosi is not really slavery. Sometimes they even claim that the girls are treated like queens! I challenge them to tell that face-to-face to any girl who has been a trokosi. Afrikania says trokosi is just a part of their traditional practice, and all tradtional practices are good and should be preserved. They even say the trokosi are heroines because they are single-handedly keeping their communities from disaster by averting the anger of the gods!  We have followed their arguments and activities for many years.  It is not hard to find many contradictions in their claims.  Most people in Ghana want the practice of trokosi to be ended, so it seems to us that the opposition of this group is the primary obstacle in that taking place.

The bottom line is, the adherents of the Afrikania Mission seem to value their traditional ways of life more than they value the freedom and the lives of the girls who are held in bondage. African Traditional Religion acknowledges the existence of a Creator God.  Yet, Afrikania traditionalists have chosen their idols rather than the true and living God. They say they are children of Amen-Ra, an ancient Egyptian idol.  They are slaves of a different kind, and they also need our prayers. Recently we have seen, however, that sometimes when those who oppose liberation receive more information, they do see things more clearly and even come over to help free the girls whose liberation they once opposed. So keep these people in your prayers.  

The exact amount varies and cannot be predicted in advance. Because we need to have funding in hand to even begin negotiations, we have estimated the cost based on past experience. It costs about $200 to free one trokosi and help her start a new life. All her children go free with her, so it ends up costing about $40 per person when we consider the children as well. Additional expenses may be incurred in offering vocational training to the girls. So depending on the size of the group, your goal may be $40 for one child to $200 for one "family" or more. Of course, donations in any amount always help and are deeply appreciated.

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To request a speaker or a DVD on this topic, click here.

For further information, see these valuable links on child slavery and ritual servitude: 

(Note:  These links take you off ECM's site, but for those seriously researching the topic of child slavery, trokosi, or ritual servitude, these sites are very helpful.  Note our web address, www.ecmafrica.org , before you leave, and come back to visit us again soon.)

   Click here to enter dictionary of terms related to the trokosi or ritual servitude issue.

   Click here to enter a site that evaluates and answers the most severe opposition to liberating the trokosi slaves.

Click here to view the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Click here to view guidelines on the implementation of the UN Convention (These guidelines from the UN)

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      Every Child Ministries is fast emerging as one of the leading anti-slavery groups fighting modern-day child slavery and promoting the abolition of the practice of ritual servitude amongst children in West Africa.