Ritual servitude
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Ghana, Togo, and Benin where traditional religious shrines take young girls as slaves in payment for services, or in religious atonement for alleged misdeeds of a family member —almost always a male. The girls are sexually abused, serve at hard labor without compensation, suffer harsh punishment, and are denied education and human affection. If a girl runs away or dies, she must be replaced by another girl from the family. Some girls in ritual servitude are the third or fourth girl in their family suffering for the same crime, sometimes for something as trite as the loss of trivial property. It is still practiced in some places within Ghana, in spite of being outlawed 1998, and its carrying of a minimum three year prison sentence for conviction. In Ghana the practice is also called trokosi or fiashidi. In Togo and Benin it is called Voodoosi.
Christian NGO's and other Human rights organizations are fighting the practice, and have actively sought to liberate girls held in ritual servitude. When Ghana (then Gold Coast) was under colonial rule, a few citizens complained about the practice, but the colonial masters turned their heads. The practice was drawn into the national spotlight in 1980 when Mark Wisdom, a Baptist pastor, responded to what he says was a vision from God, and challenged the system in the national media. Organizations that have been most active in liberating ritual slaves are FESLIM (Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement), founded by Mark Wisdom, International Needs, and Every Child Ministries.
Footnotes: 1. The Trokosi System, Mark Wisdom, FESLIM, 2001.
Organizations fighting to end ritual servitude
- [link] Every Child Ministries--Slave Children
- [link] International Needs Ghana
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