A terrific opportunity has come from our friends at the Global Fund for Children. To help raise awareness about modern slavery, and to help child slavery survivors, the fund will donate one book to the Challenging Heights rescue shelter for every book that you buyby December 24. Challenging Heights was founded by former slave James Kofi Annan, recipient of a Free the Slaves Freedom Award for his courageous work to rescue children trapped on dangerous fishing boats in remote Ghana. His shelter helps kids regain their dignity and playful nature—as well as catch up on their class work. His school educates hundreds of kids, providing them with options in life that make them less vulnerable to slavery. The Global Fund will send up to 500 books to Challenging Heights. It’s a two-for-one offer that will mean a lot for vulnerable kids in Ghana. |
James Kofi Annan on the red carpet at the 2008 Freedom Awards
2008 Frederick Douglass Freedom Award winner James Kofi Annan’s continued humanitarian work has garnered yet another prestigious award! It was announced last month that James is the 2011 recipient of a Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice award. The award is given to people under the age of 40 who “demonstrate leadership in their fields and who show creativity, commitment, and extraordinary accomplishment in effective positive social change.”
James was sold into slavery at the age of 6 and forced into dangerous work on fishing boats in Ghana for seven years. He finally escaped, taught himself to read, got a college education, and found a small school to help child slavery survivors. In 2003, he founded Challenging Heights, a Ghanaian NGO dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and educating child survivors of slavery. The Freedom Awards helped James expand his anti-slavery work—to date, he has helped more than 75 children to freedom with a new rescue boat and rehabilitation center.
The Grinnell prize awards him $100,000, which will no doubt help Challenging Heights bring even more children out of slavery.
Last year, James spoke at TEDXGrandValley, an independently organized TED event. If you haven’t already, check out his speech below:
Find out more about James and Challenging Heights here. Or go to the Challenging Heights website here.
Still from the documentary "Slaves of the Lake" chronicling the rehabilitation of two former child slaves in Ghana.
2008 Freedom Award winner James Kofi Annan is a survivor of childhood slavery. He was enslaved in Ghana’s fishing industry, forced to work in hazardous conditions on Lake Volta, beaten and subdued, given little to no compensation.
See video of James Kofi Annan rescuing a child from slavery in Ghana.
Annan was able to escape. He went to school and embarked on a successful business career. But he was compelled to go back to Lake Volta to face the trauma of his past. He now dedicates his life to rescuing other child slaves. By doing so, he says, he is “correcting the injustice” that was done to him. Annan started Challenging Heights to rehabilitate rescued child slaves by offering counseling, support, and education. For Annan, access to education was the key to his emancipation. He wants to pass this on to the children he rescues. By going to school, these children have a chance to “recover from trauma and regain hope for the future.”
Keep up to date with Challenging Heights: follow their blog here!
The video above is a short documentary, “Slaves of the Lake,” produced by British cable network Community Channel. It follows two former fishing slaves rescued by Challenging Heights, and chronicles the boys struggles as they try to re-integrate into lives of freedom. Often, the real challenges of emancipation happen after an enslaved person is rescued. The road to recovery can be a long and treacherous one. True and lasting freedom comes from holistic, community-based solutions—as the documentary above illustrates.
Go here to learn more about Free the Slaves‘ guiding principals.
Your donations help us continue our work. Go here to learn how you can help Free the Slaves eradicate slavery in our lifetime!
Desmond Tutu: “Thank You” from Free the Slaves on Vimeo.
Father Desmond Tutu announced today that he is retiring from public service. The tireless anti-apartheid crusader who has been called the “conscience of Africa” says he wants to enjoy the remainder of his days with his family and watching cricket. His announcement has inspired an outpouring of love and support from the public. (BBC News has dedicated an section on their website to people’s memories of the Archbishop).
The video above shows Father Tutu’s indelible sense of humor, during his speech at the 2008 Freedom Awards. He presented the Frederick Douglass award to Ghanian freedom fighter James Kofi Annan (shown briefly in a reaction shot). Annan was a childhood slave who toiled on fishing boats. He is now the founder of Challenging Heights, which provides shelter and education for other child survivors of slavery.
In 2003, Father Desmond Tutu joined Free the Slaves’ board as International Advisor. Father Tutu sent us a characteristically humble and touching letter to accept the position. He wrote, “Thank you for this opportunity to, once again, publicly declare my commitment to ending modern slavery. As you know, my heart has been in this struggle for decades. If there is one abuse that offends our conscience in every way, it is the enslavement of a human being. No child should be born without hope; no person should live without freedom.”
Free the Slaves is eternally grateful for Father Tutu’s support, love and light. He showed us that standing up for the freedom of all people is not only the right thing to do—it is the only thing to do. And we can do it with a smile.
Recently, Father Tutu wrote the forward to a book of photographs by Lisa Kristine, titled, simply, “Slavery.” Produced by Free the Slaves, the monograph depicts the extent of slavery all over the world. Stay tuned for more news about this book, which is set to be released next month.
Jason Mraz sits on a fishing boat with James Kofi Annan, a former childhood fishing slave in Ghana, and founder of anti-slavery NGO Challenging Heights.
- Halogen TV: Jason Mraz crusades for Free the Slaves: “Mraz wept as children sang Luc Reynauld’s ‘Freedom Song.’ He texted Reynauld, telling him about it. Reynauld texted back, saying, ‘It’s their song.’”
Jason visited Free the Slaves partner in Ghana Challenging Heights—an NGO founded by Freedom Award winner James Kofi Annan, a survivor of childhood slavery. Help us support anti slavery organizations around the world. Donate today!
- End Slavery Now: Galleries—Child sex slavery and exploitation: “The reasons [for child sex slavery] are often complex, but the results are the same, children forced to work in a growing sex trade where demand drives even caring parents to do dreadful deeds… for every child who is rescued, there are many more in danger of sexual abuse”
- BBC: Three people charged over ‘baby sale plot’ in London: “Two men and a woman have been charged after an investigation by the News of the World into the alleged sale of an 11-month-old girl… An 11-month-old girl has been taken into the care of Newham Social Services in east London.”
- Change.org: U.S. commits $10 Million to fight child labor in chocolate industry: “The $10 million pledge will create what [Secretary of Labor Hilda] Solis called ‘A New Framework of Action,’ specifically focused on protecting children in the cocoa sectors of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. The project will build community-based monitoring systems to investigate and identify child labor and child slavery, get former child workers back into school, and provide trafficked and at-risk children with supportive services.”
Last June, Jason Mraz traveled to Ghana with Free the Slaves to see the work we do with our partner organization, Challenging Heights. Challenging Heights is founded by Freedom Award winner James Koffi Annan—a survivor of childhood slavery who now dedicates his life to freeing and rehabilitating others. Yeterday, Jason released a video about his travels on his official Youtube channel. Check it out below!
Free the Slaves operates in seven countries, working to bring people out of slavery and eradicating the conditions that make slavery possible in the first place. Help us do our work. Donate today!
Read more about Jason Mraz’s work with Free the Slaves here!
Back in June, Jason Mraz went to Ghana with Free the Slaves to visit with our partner Challenging Heights—an organization that helps free and rehabilitate child slaves. Challenging Heights’ founder, James Kofi Annan was himself sold into slavery when he was just six years old. The Challenging Heights school provides a refuge for former slaves and children vulnerable to traffickers.
See video of Jason Mraz talking about visiting Challenging Heights.
Jason visited the shelter and performed “The Freedom Song” with the children there—by all accounts, it was a stirring moment. And Jason is still spreading the love. Just yesterday, he talked about his experiences in Ghana with the Bangor Daily News (a local newspaper in Maine). The article says:
“What he gets most out of music and being a musician is still an elusive concept for Mraz.
‘I’m really not sure what it is I get out of music, but maybe when I do I’ll stop, so it’s probably better I don’t,’ he said after thinking a few moments. ‘It’s everything and it’s nothing, and it’s the nothing that makes me keep going, but I’m still searching.’
Mraz is less nebulous when it comes to pegging one of the biggest rewards of being a musician: when hundreds or thousands of people sing your songs exactly word for word in unison.
‘That’s pretty badass. It’s a pretty good feeling. I chuckle every time it happens,’ he said. ‘Recently it happened in Ghana with a song called “Freedom Song” written by a friend, which I shared with Free The Slaves organization. That moved me, hearing a bunch of kids singing it word for note while they were out playing.
‘It’s mind-blowing to realize the power of song.’”
Some back story: “The Freedom Song” was written in Louisiana in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Seattle-based musician Luc Reynaud travelled to the devastated state and spent time with displaced children in a shelter. Together with these kids, he composed the song. Luc’s band, Luc and the Lovingtons played two benefit shows for Free the Slaves last week. Jason Mraz joined the band in San Diego to perform “The Freedom Song.”
