Freeman Gadri was five years old when he first got up at four in the morning to bring in fishing nets. From that age, he went to the Lake Volta reservoir every morning until nine o’clock, before selling fresh fish at the local market with his parents.
‘We were short of income, I had to help out,’ he explains. Then primary school awaited, where Gadri started the necessary lessons not very fit.
According to the Ghanaian Ministry of Labour’s current National Action Plan, some 3.2 per cent of children aged five to 14 are still working.
Three-quarters of these children work in agriculture, especially also in cocoa picking.
Gadri is now 32 and has long since left his child labour youth behind.
At a young age, he met people from the General agricultural workers union GAWU who, partly with the support of the Stop Child Labour Alliance, were working towards child labour-free zones, both in the cocoa sector and in fishing.
GAWU still organises in villages committees of parents, local government, village chiefs, unions and teachers who jointly ensure that children are educated instead of working.
Gadri combined both, but made sure he could attend three years of technical school.
He set up his own business in mobile phone accessories and is successful in it.
His own four children attend school exclusively, and so he has broken the cycle of child labour.
He is also a community leader in his village and in this role visits other villages to ensure that more children are taken out of work and go to school.
‘We can change the world with this method,’ he says. ‘I am very grateful to GAWU for showing me this way.’
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com
