Country Report: Ghana

To atone for family sins, young girls are enslaved to fetish priests in remote regions of Ghana.

A Victim's Story

"The priest caught me and got angry. He asked three other men to hold me down and tie me to a table. They put ropes on my feet, legs, and hands, and I was beaten mercilessly. I thought I was going to lose the baby."

Julie Dogbadzi was one of nearly 4,000 girls and women enslaved in the upper Volta region of West Africa. In accordance with a practice of her people, the Ewe, Julie was taken at the age of seven to the shrine of the local Fetish Priest and made a Trokosi slave. Like many other Trokosi, she was given to atone for the sin of a male relative. Julie's parents gave their daughter to compensate for a petty theft committed by her grandfather, a man she never knew.

Country Background

Ghana is located on Africa's west coast between the Cote d'Ivoire and Togo. With a population near 20 million, Ghana's main ethnic groups include the Ashanti, Dagomba, Ewe, Fanti, and Ga. The Ewe comprise about 13% of the population. In 1957, Ghana became the first country in colonial Africa to gain its independence.

Causes of Slavery

Trokosi, in the Ewe language, means "slaves of the gods." It is part of a traditional religious system, ju-ju, in which a fetish priest mediates between the gods and the people. Although Trokosi is known to exist in Benin, Nigeria, and Togo, most of the information available pertains to Ghana, where there are an estimated 4,000 Trokosi.

One of the beliefs of those who practice ju-ju is that the gods often punish a person's sins by causing the deaths of other family members until the sin is pardoned for. Through the early 18th century, livestock or other gifts were given to the priest in atonement. Yet priests - feeling that girls could be used as domestic help as well as sexual partners - began taking young virgins as reparation instead.

This unusual form of religious slavery is rooted in powerful traditional superstitions. Trokosi are not lured or abducted, but rather sent to shrines by relatives who fear misfortune if they do not atone in this way.

The Process of Enslavement

While enslaved, Trokosi are forced to live in terrible conditions. Apart from working in the priests' beds, the women work in the fields or in the local market as well. If a woman tries to run away or resists in any way, she is usually beaten into submission. In addition to being frequently raped, women have little to wear or eat. Although the Trokosi must provide food and clothing for themselves and their children, they are permitted to retain only a fraction of wages they earn outside of the shrine. The bulk goes to the priests. Not only are women prone to infection because of their attire, but they are also at greater risk for STDs, as priests often have numerous sexual partners.

A girl is generally expected to serve a priest for three to five years, depending upon the severity of the crime and the policy of the shrine. After that time, a woman's family is free to redeem her, but priests usually demand a high price-in cash, livestock, drinks, and other ritual items. This is often more than a family can afford. In the event that the priest dies, the woman becomes the property of his successor. But if the girl dies without her family redeeming her, they are obligated to replace her with another virgin, and thus the cycle can continue for generations.

Response on the Ground

Although there are thousands of women enslaved in Ghana, few citizens are even aware that Trokosi exists. Because Trokosi occurs as a religious superstition in a remote region of the country, it is difficult to observe. Yet through the initiative of International Needs Ghana, a private non-profit group addressing the issues of the Trokosi and their children, over 31 shrines have stopped the practice of Trokosi, and 1,000 women have been freed.

The Ghanian government has denounced Trokosi and deemed the practice unacceptable. Yet despite a 1998 law outlawing the practice, many women remain enslaved because the law is difficult to enforce. One factor is that the Ewe possess significant political clout, and some view the banning of Trokosi as equivalent to banning their culture. But Ghana's new president, John Kufuor, recently pledged to implement the law in full, saying: "Young girls should be in educational establishments, not in the harem of some fetish priest."

Unlike many Trokosi, Julie Dogbadzi's story is one of triumph. After escaping the shrine with her two children, she went to work with International Needs Ghana. Julie currently lives in Ghana and is working to free and rehabilitate other Trokosi women. In 1999, she received the Reebok Human Rights Award.

More Information

Slave narrative: Mercy Ameyo Senahe »

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