Ritual servitude

Ritual servitude is a practice in Ghana, Togo, and Benin where traditional religious shrines take human beings, usually young virgingirls in payment for services, or in religious atonement for alleged misdeeds of a family member --almost always a male. In Ghana and in Togo, it is practiced by some parts of the Ewe tribe in the Volta region, and in Benin it is practiced by the Fon.

These shrine slaves serve the priests, elders and owners of a traditional religious shrine without remuneration and without their consent, although the consent of the family or clan may be involved. Those who practice ritual servitude usually feel that the girl is serving the god or gods of the shrine and is married to the gods of the shrine.^[1]

These girls are sexually abused, serve at hard labor without compensation, suffer harsh punishment, and are denied education and human affection. If a girl runs away or dies, she must be replaced by another girl from the family. Some girls in ritual servitude are the third or fourth girl in their family suffering for the same crime, sometimes for something as trite as the loss of trivial property. It is still practiced in the Volta region in Ghana, in spite of being outlawed in 1998, and despite carrying a minimum three year prison sentence for conviction. Among the Ewes who practice the ritual in Ghana, the practice is also called trokosi or fiashidi. In Togo and Benin it is called voodoosi or vudusi.

Other names for ritual servitude

Trokosi-- the general name by which it is called in Ghana by both proponents and opponents of the practice Ritual or customary servitude-- designations by which it is called in Ghana law forbidding the practice Fiashidi-- another name used by some districts in Ghana Woryokwe-- another name used by some districts in Ghana Vudusi (with many variant spellings: voodoosi, voudousi, vaudounsi, voudounsi, etc.) the general name by which it is called in French-speaking countries such as Togo and Benin. Shrine slaves-- a designation often used by NGO's to describe the practice ^[2] Heirodulic slavery-- a designation used by Anti-Slavery groups to distinguish this practice as one combining several types of slavery ^[3]

Use of the terms "servitude", "slave" and "slavery in describing the practice and objections to those appellations

Human rights organizations and other NGO's commonly use the words "servitude", "slaves," and "slavery" as non-technical, popularly-understood terms that describe the reality of this practice. They point out that the practice meets all the commonly-accepted definitions of slavery. ^[4] Shrine slaves perform services which are not voluntary and are not paid. Their lives are totally controlled by the shrines, who in a sense become their owners.

Proponents of the system of ritual servitude by any of its names object to this term, but except for the technical terms "trokosi," "vudusi," "fiashidi," Woryokoe," but the problem is coming up with a suitable alternative. Sometimes they have compared the trokosi to traditional queen mothers, implying a sense of respect for them, ^[5] but one representative of an NGO who claims to have interviewed hundreds of participants reports that the participants themselves are offended at being called queens and insist they are/were simply slaves. ^[6] Juliana Dogbadzi, who served 17 years as a trokosi, says she was "slave to a fetish priest."^[7] Cudjoe Adzumah made a study of the practice in the Tongu Districts of Ghana and defined "trokosi" as "slaves of the gods."^[8] Emmanuel Kwaku Akeampong, a native Ghanaian of Harvard University, says that "tro" means a "god" and "kosi" is used at different times to mean either "slave," "virgin," or "wife." ^[9] Anita Ababio, a Ghanian lawyer who has extensively researched the issue, explains that the Adangbe and Ga word, "woryokwe" comes from "won" meaning cult, and "yokwe," meaning "slave." Thus, she claims, a "woryokwe" is a "slave of a cult."^[10] Robert Kwame Amen in Ghana Studies also refers to trokosi as an institution of slavery. ^[11] Likewise, Stephen Awudi Gadri, President of the Trokosi Abolition Fellowship of Ghana, and also himself from a shrine family, claims that trokosi are "slaves of the deities of the shrines."^[12] "Though euphemistically, they are called the 'deity's wives', yet they serve the priests and elders of the shrine and do all the hard chores, as well as becoming sexual partners of the priest," Gadri says.^[13] He also says, "the trokosi works for the priest without any form of remuneration whatsoever," and "it is a form of slavery."^[14] Ababio claims, "The servile status of the trokosi is seen in the duties they perform in the shrines, for which no payment is made...unfortunately for most trokosi, when they are freed they are still bound by rituals which keep them connected or attached to a shrine for life. Practically it means that these victims of ritual servitude always have the rights of ownership exercised over them."{ref|Ababio14}} She then goes on to quote Article 7 of The Convention on Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, which defines a slave as "a person over whom any or all powers attaching to the rights of ownership are exercised."^[15] Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, a Ghanaian lawyer, says ritual servitude is "slavery, pure and simple. It violates every human right." Some of the traditional priests also admit the trokosi are slaves. For example, Togbe Adzimashi Adukpo, a shrine priest, admitted in an interview with BBC in February 2001, "Yes, the girls are my slaves. They are the property of my shrine."^[16]

On the question of whether trokosi is a form of slavery and whether sexual abuse is involved the answers are polarized into two camps. Some traditionalists defend the system saying that it is simply a cultural practice of certain shrines and as such should be protected. These defenders claim that while instances of sexual abuse may occur, there is no evidence that sexual or physical abuse is an ingrained or systematic part of the practice. According to them, the practice explicitly forbids a Trokosi to engage in sexual activity or contact. The other camp is represented by NGO's working with the trokosi and by former trokosi who have been liberated. These opponents of the practice have recorded testimony of hundreds of former (now liberated) trokosi who say that sexual abuse was a regular part of their time at the shrine, claiming the number of children born to them by the priest and shrine elders is a witness. ^[17]

Liberation of Shrine Slaves

File:Shrine owner thumbprinting liberation documents.jpg

A shrine owner thumbprints liberation documents at a liberation sponsored by Every Child Ministries in 2005. A representative of the Ghana CHRAJ (Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice) looks on.

NGO's and other Human rights organizations are fighting the practice. Some have openly labeled it slavery, although this term is disliked by traditional advocates of the practice. The NGO's use of the term slaves comes from former trokosi who have been liberated.^[18] These groups have actively sought to liberate girls held in ritual servitude. Liberation has been done on a shrine-by-shrine basis, with NGO's seeking to reach community-wide agreements that all the slaves of a particular shrine will be liberated and the practice of slavery or ritual servitude will be permanently ended in that place. When such an agreement is reached, a public ceremony is held for the signing of the documents and often, liberation certificates for the former slaves. The shrine is compensated for its loss and the former trokosi begin a process of rehabilitation which usually includes learning vocational skills.

History of Opposition to the Practice

When Ghana (then Gold Coast) was under colonial rule, a few citizens complained about the practice, but the colonial masters turned their heads. The practice was drawn into the national spotlight in 1980 when Mark Wisdom, a Baptist pastor, responded to what he says was a vision from God, and challenged the system in the national media. Organizations that have been most active in liberating ritual slaves are FESLIM (Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement), founded by Mark Wisdom, International Needs, and Every Child Ministries. The practice was outlawed in Ghana in 1998, but continues, due to fear and the reluctance of the government to interfere with traditional practices. Christian NGO's and human rights organizations have been fighting it--working to end the practice and to win liberation for the shrine slaves.

Trokosi

Trokosi is a traditional practice alleged by many to be a form sexual slavery in some parts of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. In Ghana, it is practised by the Ewes in the Volta region and by their counterparts in Togo and Benin. In this practice, young girls, usually under the age of 10 and sometimes as young as three, are given to village fetish shrine priests as sexual/domestic slaves or "wives of the gods" in compensation for offenses allegedly committed, or debts incurred, by a member of the girl's family, or as payment for favours sought from the shrine. ^[19] In Togo and Benin the slaves are called Voodoosi or vudusi (French spelling "vaudounsi"). The Anlo people of Ghana call the practice fiashidi.^[20]

The practice continues in Ghana despite a 1998 law against "ritual or customary servitude" mandating a three-year prison sentence on conviction.^[21] No one has yet been prosecuted under the law. Women's groups, human rights groups and Christian NGOs continue to strive to end the practice, and have won the liberation of over 2000 trokosi slaves by negotiating agreements with individual shrine communities to end the practice in those places.

The word trokosi comes from the Ewe words "tro", meaning deity or fetish, and "kosi", meaning female slave.^[22] ^[23] The "tro" deity is not, according to African traditional religion, the Creator or what might be called the "High" or Ultimate God. "Tro" refers to what African Traditional Religion calls the "small gods" or "lesser deities"--spirits of nature, etc. which are venerated in traditional religion. The term trokosi is commonly used in English in Ghana, as a loanword.

Categories of Tro Adherents

Those who join the Tro of their own volition (extremely rare) and those who were born to women associated with the Tro and initiated as children (Trovivo);
Those thought to have been born through the intervention of the Tro (Dorflevivo) and thus incur a lifetime obligation of servitude to the tro;
Those allegedly called by the tro to serve as priest and priestesses of the shrine (Tronua);
Those who were forced to become Trokosi to repay the Tro because their family supposedly benefited from it.
Those Trokosi who are sent by families, often against the will of the girl involved, out of fear that if they do not do so, further calamities may afflict them through the anger of the shrine deities. This last group consists of those vestal virgins who are sent into servitude at the shrines of the Troxovi due to crimes allegedly committed by their senior or elder family members, almost always males like fathers, grandfathers, and uncles. The trokosi is sort of a "living sacrifice," who by her suffering is thought to save the family from trouble.

Opponents of the practice claim that all except those who joined of their own volition are virtually slaves in every normal sense of the word.

NGO's point out that practices in traditional shrines vary, but trokosi are usually denied education, suffer a life of hardship, and are a lonely lot, stigmatized by society. ^[24]

The period of servitude varies from a few months to life. In some cases it involves payment of a heavy fine to the shrine, which can require many years of hard labor or even a lifetime of service to pay. In shrines where the period of servitude is limited, after a ritual and sometimes after months or years in the shrine, the Trokosi returns to her family, but her life is still controlled by the shrine for the rest of her life. Supporters of the practice claim that in the vast majority of cases, there is no particular stigma attached to one's status as a former Trokosi shrine participant. NGO's working to rehabilitate former trokosi say that the social stigma is immense and that is is the most enduring and difficult aspect of the practice. ^[25]

Similar practices in other countries

Devdasi in India and Nepal ^
Sexual Slavery

References

^ Wives of the gods--An analysis of West African ritual servitude, L W Rouster, M.R.E., ECMAfrica Publications, 2008, PO Box 810, Hebron, IN 46341, p. 1.
^ Field Findings on the System of Slavery Commonly Known as Trokosi, L W Rouster,M.R.E., ECMAfrica Publications, 2005, p. 1.
^ Rouster, p. 1.
^ Rouster, p. 2.
^
^ Rouster, p. 2.
^ Juliana Dogbadzi, PARADE magazine, "One Voice," September 24, 2000, p. 7.
^ Cudjoe Adzumah, "The Trokosi Practice in N Tongu: Its Impact on the Rights of Women and Children, BA Thesis, Sociology Department, University of Ghana, 1996.
^ Emmanuel Kwaku Akeampong, Between the Sea and the Lagoon, an Eco-Social History of the Anlo of Southeastern Ghana c. 1850 to Recent Times, Ohio University Press, Athens, OH, James Currey, Oxford, 2001, p. 221.
^ Anita Mamusina Heymann Ababio, "Trokosi, Woryokwe, Cultural and Individual Rights: A Case Study of Women's Empowerment and Community Rights in Ghana, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, August 22, 2000, p. 4.
^ Robert Kwame Amen, Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana, a Policy Approach, Ghana Studies I, 1998, p. 35-62.
{{note|Gadry11} Stephen Awudi Gadri, History of the Trokosi System in Ghana, Vol. 1, Paper presented to the First National Congress on the Trokosi System, June 29, 2000, p. 4.
{{note|Gadri12} Gadri, p. 7.
{{note|Gadri13} Gadri, p. 8-9.
^ Ababio, p. 71.
^ Ababio, quoting The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956, ECOSOC, Res. 608, XXI, 1956. This convention has been ratified and acceded to by Ghana.
{{note|Hawaley16) Humphrey Hawaley, "Ghana's Trapped Slaves", BBC News, February 8, 2001.

^ The Trokosi System, Mark Wisdom, FESLIM, 2001, p. 4
^ Wisdom, p 3.
^ The Criminal Code of Ghana, Act. 1998 Act. 554.
^ Wisdom, p 3.
^ Information on Trokosi--Specialized Dictionary of Trokosi Terms, Commission for Truth on Trokosi, p.3.
^ Report on Trokosi Institution, Researched and Written by Dr. Elom Dovlo, University of Ghana, Legon, 1995.
^ "Trokosi--Should This Practice Be Allowed to Continue?", Progressive Utilization, Vol. 2. No. 1, PO Box C267 Cantonments Communication Centre, Accra, Ghana, 1995.
^ Field Findings on the System of Slavery Commonly Known as Trokosi, L W Rouster,M.R.E., ECMAfrica Publications, 2005, p. 6.
^ www.anti-slaverysociety.com

External links