theresa in ghana with diploma
No to trafficking

“Girls here can be victims of trafficking.

That’s when you get sold and taken from one place to another to work. It happened to me when I was ten. My family was very poor. When a woman offered to take care of me and make sure I got the chance to go to school, my mother and I were delighted. 
“I thought I would get to go to school all day long. Instead, I had very little time at school and a great deal of work to do. Early in the morning I sold water at a market, and in the afternoon I sold school books and other things. One day, the woman’s daughter accidentally accepted a fake bank note from a customer at the market, but everyone blamed me. They beat me so badly that I still have scars on my body. They scorched my legs with burning logs and beat me on the back with a cast-iron pot. And they refused to pay my wages.
“Since I didn’t have anywhere else to go, I was forced to work for the woman as a slave for two years. But one day, after a severe beating, I had had enough. I put on my favourite dress and ran away. Finally, I ended up here in Ada, with my aunt.
“Now I’m in Form 1 at Junior High, and I’m a Child Rights Ambassador and a member of a WCP Child Rights Club. Before I joined the club I didn’t know a thing about the rights of the child, or about girls having equal rights. But now I know that I have a right to an education and a right to live with my parents.
“Through being a WCP Child Rights Ambassador, I can tell other girls about our rights. So that they don’t get tricked and end up in the same situation I had to endure. It’s important to know your rights. If you read The Globe magazine, you will be well-informed on that subject!”

Theresa, 15, WCP Child Rights Ambassador, Ada, Ghana

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