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Independent News Article written by Angela Robson: The chosen slaves - Slavery in the name of God

A Life Transformed

*Mercy Senaha before coming to the IN centre.

Mercy Senaha was enslaved when only six years of age to appease the ‘gods’ for a crime her great grandfather had committed two generations earlier.  He had stolen a pair of earrings valued at less than fifty pence.

Since then Mercy’s family had suffered ‘bad luck’ and went to the local Trokosi priest to see if he could consult the ‘gods’ for an explanation.  The response was as they feared; they had to give to the ‘gods’ a young virgin girl as retribution for the evil committed.  This in practise meant that Mercy was chosen and, stripped of all her dignity; she went to live with the priest as his ‘slave’ for the rest of her life.  Imagine leaving a child of six with a stranger and letting her fend completely for herself.  Scared, bewildered, and lonely Mercy cried herself to sleep every night.

At the age of twelve Mercy was raped by the priest as a rite of passage.  Over time she had four children by the priest.

 *Rev. Walter Pimpong and his wife Marion.

It was over fifteen years ago that Rev Walter Pimpong started his work to gain the release of girls enslaved by the Trokosi system of religion.  Walter and his team have had great success, with over 3,000 women and 16,000 children having been released.  There are however at least another 3,000 still enslaved with unknown numbers in Togo and Benin.

Trokosi is an ancient form of voodoo, spells are cast and sacrifices are made to the ‘gods’.  It is a religion that brings fear to individual women, their families, and communities in the North Tongu region of Ghana.

Although the Ghanaian government passed a law outlawing the practice in 1998, this is about evil spiritual powers that no man-made law can eradicate.

Eight years ago Patience Vermawor began to help Walter and to build on his work.  On of her early successes was the release of forty slave girls, one of which was Mercy Senaha.

Mercy’s family did not want her back, despite the strenuous efforts of the International Needs counsellors.  She eventually went to our Vocational Training Centre in Adidome, where she learnt hairdressing, soap making, baking and dressmaking.

 * A well at an IN centre in Ghana.

All the time, our trained counsellors helped Mercy through the traumas of her past.  However, after two years she was still not ready to leave the Centre and the counsellors feared she would never integrate back into society.  She had experienced so many awful things in the shrine that had left her deeply traumatised.

 *Mercy and her children at the IN centre.

Through the tireless work of the team at Adidome, Mercy has now adjusted well and has become very well integrated into her community.  She lives in Adidome with her four children, Faustina (13), Theresa (11), Mary (8) and Amegbe (6).  Mercy works part-time as a cook at the Vocational Training Centre.  She not only cooks the meals but she helps other released slave girls who are being trained at the Centre to come to terms with their past experiences and their new-found freedom.

Mercy experienced God’s love through the care of her helpers and from then on she began to come to terms with her life, she says, “God’s love and power chased all my demons away.”

This success story can be repeated many times.  In the villages where the shrines are situated and girls have been released International Needs has been able to help by installing water wells, building schools, planting churches, and funding micro-credit schemes to help village economies.

 *Mercy and her children now.

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Thank you for your interest and your help.