A 12- year-old survivor of child trafficking who was sold to a woman for GH¢40 by his father at Winneba, has narrated his pathetic story. The boy (name withheld) arrived with his mother, Ama Okodo at Challenging Heights Centre, a child rights non-governmental organisation in Winneba, on October 28 and narrated his ordeal to officials of the organization. During an interview with Mr Fredderick Dadzie, the programmes officer of the organisation, the boy's mother said somewhere in September this year, when basic schools were about to reopen, she returned home from an errand and did not find her son. According to her, she asked her husband, Kow Addo, of the boy's whereabouts and he replied the boy was sleeping. Unknown to the woman, her husband had sold the boy to one Esi Adooba for GH¢40 and by the time she found out the truth, it was too late; he had been taken to Wangara, a fishing village in Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region to work on a fishing boat. According to the boy, when he went fishing with his 'masters' and accidentally tangled a few of the nets, they hit his hand with the oar used for rowing the boat, and slapped him across the face. Although his hand was badly injured, he said, they continued to force him to work for them on the fishing boat. The boy, who was rescued about a week ago and reunited with his mother, came to the centre barefooted, wearing shorts, with a blanket draping his shoulders. His right hand was swollen, blistered, and badly bruised. The interview revealed that the boy's return was the result of a search that begun several weeks earlier, when Challenging Heights was informed by a local schoolteacher that the boy had been sold by his father. The organisation reported the case to the police in Winneba, who tried to arrest Joshua's father, but he fled his house and has since not returned. They also contacted the police in Wangara and a traditional village chief in the area to alert them of the situation. It was only when the boy's 'masters' heard that the police were looking for him that they put him on a bus under the care of a man who was going to Winneba. Now, the boy is free and going through a rehabilitation programme organised by Challenging Heights. After being interviewed by officials of the organisation, the boy, his mother, and officers of the organisation, reported the incident to the Winneba Police, who took statements from them and gave the boy a medical form to seek medical care for his injured hand. The Police then contacted the Department of Social Welfare, which has recommended that the boy be temporarily placed in a shelter to receive counselling due to his "traumatic condition" and "necessity of reintegration into school". Meanwhile, the Winneba Police are also cooperating with their counterparts in Yeji in their bid to arrest Esi. She is believed to have been involved in the trafficking of another boy in December 2008, but was not apprehended at the time. Source: Daily Graphic