Ho, 25 Feb, GNA- About 150 street children in Ho invited to a community sensitization puppetry seminar on human trafficking on Monday, attended the programme.

The two, 14 and 16 years respectively, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that they were at the event because of the prospects of getting enrolled in school after years on the street.

The workshop, organised by the Department on the Human Trafficking ACT, in Ho Fiave within the Ho Municipality, was attended by school children.

Mr Edwin Gamadeku, Volta Regional Director of the Department of Children, told the GNA that the rest aged between 12 and 16 years, failed to attend the seminar because they were afraid of being arrested and also thought it was a waste of time.

He said most of the street children, trafficked from Aflao, Akatsi and neighbouring Togo, were engaged in chop bar operation, kente weaving and carrying load at the market, and expressed disappointed at the refusal of the children to attend the seminar.

Mr Clark Noyoru, Human Trafficking Project Officer of the Department, said the programme sought to educate children on the effects of child trafficking, its mode of operation and how to stop it. He said Ho was one of the "sending and receiving" centres of such children and appealed to stakeholders in the Municipality to help protect the interest of the "Ghanaian child."

The participants were taken through "offences relating to human trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration" through puppetry. 25 Feb 08