Director
Timothy Edzeani Doh
Development support
White Volta is a story of child labor and poverty in Ghana and one mans campaign to change it. The film follows former child slave Annan as he returns to his roots to bring a better future to children trafficked for unpaid fishing work and shift local people’s opinions on child slavery.
Long Synopsis
Yeji, Buipe and surrounding villages are the destinations for most of the children trafficked for fishing work in Ghana. Children trafficked to this area are aged between 5 and 15 years. These children engage in hazardous work day and night for their masters on the longest river in Ghana, River Volta.
Annan is a former child slave. He quits his promising Bank job to open a school for victims of child trafficking to help give them a better future.
Paa Kwesi, Ekow and Fiifi are trafficked children who engage in unpaid labour for their masters on the river Volta.
Most villagers are poor and ignorant and so are willing to hand over their children to traffickers to work on the river Volta for as little as US$10.
White Volta chronicles Annan’s mission as he travels around the villages along the coast in Central region and educating parents, community leaders and chiefs on the evil of child trafficking and labour issues.
During this time, Annan encounters the parents of Paa Kwesi, Ekow and Fiifi who make a report about their children to him. This and other reported cases trigger an investigation by Annan and his team as they journey from Winneba to Yeji in northern Ghana on a mission to identify, retrieve, rehabilitate and reunite these trafficked children and their families.
In so doing, Annan is turning what would be a crippling experience for many into a drive to stamp out child trafficking.