'I thought I was visiting home' - How a 12-year-old became trapped in forced labour on Lake Volta

Godwin Dogbey, then 12-years-old, was taken to an island on Lake Volta in 2015 after leaving his home in Hohoe for what he believed would be a visit to his hometown. He was left there and forced to work in the fishing industry for three years, beaten when he struggled, and made to enter the water despite not knowing how to swim. He recalls, "I felt happy that, finally, I could also boast and say I've been to my hometown before."

He realized something was wrong after reaching the lake when the woman who brought him disappeared, and the man he was told was his uncle was the boat master. Godwin could not swim but was made to dive underwater to untangle fishing nets, facing hazards like submerged tree stumps and electric fish. He states, "They will throw you inside the lake… so you need to swim, whatever the distance is." From 2015 to 2018, he worked alongside other children, some younger than him, and says some did not survive. He states, "Some do die. And it's like it's normal to them there, the boat masters themselves." Superintendent William Ayaregah, Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, says traffickers often exploit relationships of trust.