Child slave labour in Ghana and attempts to help. Autoethnographic perspective

Abstract

The aim of the article is to draw attention to the process of helping and related responsibility in a foreign culture, in African conditions. The author presents reflections referring to her two-year stay in Ghana and direct work with children exploited for slave labour, their parents and social workers. The complex process of freeing children from slave labour is described from the organisational and legal perspective. The author discovers the complicated social and mental mechanics leading to child slave labour. With reference to her own experience, the author reveals the process of returning children to normal life and the process of reintegration while describing emerging threats. The author warns against irresponsible helping, at the same time suggesting the conditions that should be met to help wisely.