THE CAUSE | Row to Rescue

The Cause

Together we can end slavery in our lifetime.

Slavery still exists. I am attempting to Row the Atlantic - a route that hundreds of thousands of slaves have taken before me - for a world free from slavery.

Between the 16th and 19th centuries, around 10 to 12 million enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. It was the second of three stages of the so-called "trade triangle".

Despite the abolition of slavery in the mid-19th century, there are more slaves in existence today than ever before. 40 million people are currently living in slavery. 1 in 4 are children.

Modern slavery can include (amongst other things) forced labour, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, debt bondage and forced marriage. Every day, innocent people are tricked, beaten, raped and abused as they are trafficked and then trapped in a cycle of modern slavery; their blood, sweat and tears are exchanged for cash.

Ghana

In Ghana, children as young as four are sold to work in the fishing industry on Lake Volta. They are separated from their families, violently beaten, malnourished and prevented from going to school.

IJM has partnered with local police and authorities in Ghana to find and rescue children in slavery, to help survivors to heal from their trauma and to ensure slave owners are arrested and convicted for their crimes. IJM trains law enforcement in how to conduct anti-trafficking investigations and how to pursue criminal cases, in order to sustainably tackle slavery long-term.

Your gifts will send rescue to children trapped right now.

You will enable IJM teams to find children in slavery and work with police to rescue them. You will give children the greatest gift of all: freedom.

Foli, aged 12, explains that many do not know how to swim and drowning is common. He said: "You have to hold your breath. You get tired. If you're not careful ... you die."

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SPONSORME

If you would like to support me directly, so that i can maximise profits raised for IJM, any contributions would be hugely appreciated, however big or small.