The Australian High Commission and Challenging Heights, an NGO, have teamed up to provide support services for victims of Child Trafficking in Ghana.

Although efforts to end child trafficking have been in the news for a long time, not much is known about what happens to the children rescued by NGOs and the police.

Victims of child trafficking become emotionally and psychologically unstable and thus have to be supported to overcome such challenges, according to psychologists.

The Australian mission, through its Direct Aid Program, managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided ICT and other learning facilities to help in the healing and reintegration process of the victims of child trafficking at Challenging Height, an NGO that protects the interests of children and also fights against child trafficking.

The support focuses on small-scale and activities that deliver practical and tangible results.

The team from the Australian High Commission led by Jennifer J. Burckson, the consular, Passports and Administrative Manager, Julian Suggate, Second Secretary and Vice Consul toured the facility at Challenging Heights to get a feedback of the project and generally check on the reintegration process of the victims.

Speaking after the tour, Vice Consul of the Australian High Commission, Julian Suggate said they were impressed with the work done by Challenging Heights.

“We are excited with the amount of work that is going on here and generally the impact Challenging Heights is having on the children that have been rescued. Now, it is gratifying to see the children go through lessons in ICT, something they might not have done even before they were trafficked,” she said.

At Challenging Heights located near Winneba, scores of children that have been rescued from trafficking are being given some treatment before they are re-integrated back to the society. Children that have no formal education are given doses of formal education and encouraged to aspire to greater Heights irrespective of their circumstances.

CEO of Challenging Height, James Kofi Annan, says his organisation that has been in existence for the past 13 years has been at the forefront of the protection of children and rescuing them from the shackles of their traffickers.

“It is usually a difficult venture to undertake but we are happy we are putting smiles on the faces of the children here,” he remarked.

Ghana’s fight against human trafficking has generally received an international recognition as the latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) has upgraded the country’s Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2 ranking in the 2018 TIP Report

James Kofi Annan revealed the rescued children are normally stunted, malnourished and mostly uneducated. He says from all indication their sojourns on the lakes have hardened them and have opened them to many.

“When they come you see huge scars, indelible marks on their heads and other parts of their bodies. Some are unable to open up to us in the initial process. Bilharzia, Hepatitis B and other skin diseases are the common ones on them.

"We bring doctors, psychologists, nutritionists and other medical officials to work on them and to stabilize them. We also give them some education in the period they spend with us before they are finally taken back to their families,” he indicated.