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rescue 183
all children deserve to be free

But more of them are trafficked and forced to work than ever before.  21,000 children are currently enslaved in the fishing industry in Ghana.


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Tell me about child slavery on Lake Volta in Ghana:

  • Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world.
  • It is is the epicenter of the commercial fishing industry in Ghana, powered by child slavery.
  • 21,000 children are enslaved on fishing boats on Lake Volta right now.
  • Half of them are under 10 and 25% are under 6 years old.
  • Our partner leader in Ghana, James Kofi Annan, was enslaved from age 6-13 before escaping. He has gone back to the lake to rescue 100’s of others and train them to rescue others. He has made his journey from injustice to influence and wants to help 1000’s of others do the same.
Short video:
Hear from a survivor and a rescuer

What you can help us do in Ghana:

James and our partner team in Ghana know how to get children off the lake. They have been doing dangerous rescues for 10+ years. They just need us to provide the funds for them to do it.
100% of what you give will directly:
  • Rescue children from slavery
  • Provide immediate medical care and food
  • Transport them to our recovery center where they start their journey from Injustice to Influence
We’ll send you photos, video, and stories in 6 months and 12 months

HOW RESCUE WORKS

The process begins with an investigation in the source community (towns where children are sold or taken from parents tricked into believing their child is getting a job) where our partner investigators piece together who the child is, what they look like, and where they are likely to have been taken to.
Investigators take the information gathered and travel 10-12 hours to Lake Volta and search the lakeside towns or boats for the child and his/her slavemaster.
The rescue operation is an actual, physical rescue from either one of the towns on the lakeside, or from a boat where our partners’ rescue teams pull up alongside boats and remove boys from slavemasters. It can be dangerous and we always take at least one armed police officer. Rescue operations are for groups of approximately 30 children per rescue.
The freed child spends a few days at our partner home near the lake getting immediate care and food and calm. Then travels to our long term recovery center where healing begins and they start their journey to influence so they can rescue others. It costs $550 per month per child in our recovery center to provide care and counseling and education to a child
After 3-12 months the child is reintegrated with a family and we provide ongoing support and education and empowerment so they know how to prevent others suffering what they did.

MEET OUR LEADER THERE

JAMES KOFI ANNAN

“I was trafficked at the age of six. I was sold for the equivalent of ten dollars. This earned me the ordeal of working in about twenty fishing communities along the Volta Lake in the hands of fifteen slave masters.

Since escaping aged 13 I was the first to bring school to my community, the first to start transforming the lives of other children, getting children to high school and college.

With time survivors of trafficking become the solution to the problem. That brings me a lot of hope.”

MEET BEN

From Slave to Doctor:

Ben was sold for $102. He was rescued in 2012 and reintegrated with a family in 2013. He spent 5 years on the lake. He has been permanently damaged physically.

Ben is now in Senior High School. He is an anti-child trafficking ambassador in his school and community helping other children and families avoid what he endured. He hopes to become a medical doctor so he can treat others in physical distress.

We’re going to help him do that. Join us?

HELP US RESCUE 100 CHILDREN.
$42 A Month Provides freedom for one child with the match in May and June.
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GO TO GHANA FOR 90 SECONDS

PLAY VIDEO
"I was introduced to Challenging Heights while learning about the societal issues of child slavery within the Ghanaian fishing industry and importantly, the ongoing challenges that both the children and their families face across rescue and rehabiliitation. Challenging Heights relies on donations in order to rescue, rehabilitate and critically, to empower mothers with skills to earn an income where families become self-supporting. I specifically choose to support the children's shelter where the rescued boys are fed, clothed and educated; as a mother and educator, this area of support aligns with my thinking and values. What's more, 100% of the donation is allocated to this cause, where even a cent provides an egg, essential protein for growth and renewal."
Fiona R.
"I looked for a couple of years to find out how I could make a permanent difference for the children of Ghana. Most help seemed so temporary. Then I met James. His vision, dedication and stature were so extraordinary, I became committed to his cause. We had an opportunity to get together with the US. Ambassador to Ghana and his staff. We asked them what organizations in Ghana were doing lasting, dedicated child rescue work. Their answer was simple -- "only James Kofi Annan."
Mark H.
"We had the opportunity to visit Ghana in 2014 and spend time at the home where rescued children are prepared to reenter normal society and still more time with the community and school where they come from and return. The work of Challenging Heights and the vision of its founder, James Koffi Annan, have motivated our support ever since. "
Chuck and Kathy G.
"A number of years ago, we had the pleasure of meeting James Kofi Annan and learning of his heart's work to rescue children from trafficking and forced labor in the fishing industry on Lake Volta in Ghana. With time that vision bore fruit not only in rescuing children from slavery, but also in providing housing, education and eventual reunification of the children with their families. Supporting the work of Challenging Heights brings freedom and hope to those who have been enslaved. We count it a joy to continue investing in these precious lives."
James & Marion Boy

What can Happen?

We believe that children rescued from injustice are not a problem to be solved but a solution waiting to be unleashed. Here’s why:
“They can get seed money from a slavemaster to be a trafficker, or we can give them seed money to set up a fishing business.” We need survivors to come back and be advocates. Historically the strongest advocates we have are those who come back from university. There are inspirational and key to prevention because they become advocates in their community”
– James Kofi Annan, Partner Leader in Ghana
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HOW YOU CAN HELP RESCUE CHILDREN IN GHANA

THE RESCUE PROCESS

THE ARC TO INFLUENCE

How we work in Ghana

The process begins with an investigation in the source community (towns where children are sold or taken from) where our partner investigators piece together who the child is, what they look like, and where they are likely to have been taken to and the situation that led to them being taken in the first place.

The rescue operation is an actual, physical rescue from either one of the towns on the lakeside, or from a boat where our partners’ rescue teams pull up alongside boats and remove boys from slavemasters. It can be dangerous and we always take at least one armed police officer.

It costs an average of $1000 to rescue one child from slavery (based on a rescue operation for 30 children at once)

The rescued boys are taken for a few days to a safe house near the lake for immediate medical and emotional care and food and rest while the rescue team continues to look for the other boys in the operation. When the operation is complete, all the boys are taken to our recovery center where they will live for several months rehabilitation until they are ready to be reintegrated with a safe family member.

This involves healing of the whole child: physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual. The total cost of all care from the point of rescue to the point of reintegration is $4000-8000 depending on how long the child stays with us full time.

In our recovery center children receive literacy and numeracy and I.T. skills to prepare survivors for mainstream education during reintegration. For older youth who find it difficult to join mainstream education, we provide technical vocational training (e.g. sewing, carpentry, breadmaking skills that they can use to get a job)Following reintegration with families, survivors either join mainstream education or technical vocational skills training and we monitor their progress.

We provide encounters with professionals in different careers to widen horizons and elevate ambition help every child see what is possible.

We help open doors for them to get there and to step into what they are capable of.

They learn about their rights and the law and how to identify and prevent abuse and start anti-trafficking clubs in their schools and take action in their communities to protect others.

Youth Empowerment Programme provides both capital and network supports to its graduates. The state programmes provide temporary employment to beneficiaries to provide them with job experience and skills to apply for permanent jobs in the public sector or private sector.

Want to do more?

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LONDON BOARD

LYNN RAYNAULT

Segments of One, CEO and Co-founder

Lynn has over 20 years of experience in developing and delivering marketing and communication strategies for luxury goods and services organizations. Lynn is the former CMO for Wealth-X and prior to that, she led the marketing function for Sotheby’s auction house as VP Americas Marketing. Earlier in her career she held senior marketing positions at Lancome, William Grant & Sons and Heineken and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. Lynn joined the UK Many Hopes board in 2017 “Education is the universal foundation for building better societies. By advocating and educating underprivileged children, Many Hopes sets the foundation for the future through a new set of influencers”.

WILL GOODALL

Head of Research for a US-headquartered hedge fund.

Will has headed up the research function at a large US hedge fund for seventeen years. Will has family links to Kenya and has supported other charities there. He joined the Many Hopes board after attending a fundraiser in London. “The urgent need to support these kids around the world is indisputable, and the vision and model of Many Hopes to equip children to change their situation and in turn contribute to effecting change in their societies is exciting,” he commented.

VICTORIA THOMPSON – CHAIR

Barclays UK Consumer Banking, Chief of Staff

Victoria has a Consulting background with over 20 years’ experience working on global Business Transformation programs focusing on M&A and Outsourcing deals. Victoria has also worked in the, not for project sector where she was the COO for a global Christian Charity. She joined the Many Hopes UK Board in 2017 and is passionate to see the local children we support to defeat the injustices that charity alone cannot

LAURA BAILEY

Actor

Laura is based in London. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MSc from the London School of Economics in Development Studies. She worked for non-profits in Bangkok, Thailand, and New York that focused on economic empowerment in low-income countries. As a mom of two young children, she feels passionate about the Many Hopes mission to rescue children from poverty and abuse.

ANOUSHKA RAYNER

Paxos, Head of Growth

Anoushka Rayner has 25 years of experience in the finance industry, predominantly managing global sales and business development teams in Financial technology. Having worked at HSBC, UBS, NEX and now Fintech company Paxos. She holds an Executive Masters in Entrepreneurship.

“After attending a fundraising event in 2017, I wanted to do more. Education brings change, caring about others fuels passion to make that change. The team at Many Hopes enables that change but the children of Many Hopes are creating it.”

SIMON HAMMERSTEIN

GOVERNING BOARD

MAXINE FRIEDMAN – BOARD CHAIR

Founder and Principal, Maxine Ventures

A Silicon Valley native, Maxine Gisinger Friedman has over 20 years of leadership experience in strategic consulting, executive coaching, business development, and marketing at consulting, agency, startup, and Fortune 500 companies. Maxine is Principal and Founder of Maxine Ventures and plays an independent C-level growth and transformation partner role working with Chief Innovation, Strategy and R&D Officers of some of the world’s leading brands.

A sought-after thought leader on building growth capability strategies and systems at the enterprise level, Maxine also advises multiple startups and is an active angel investor. Prior, Maxine was on the co-founding leadership team of Bionic, an army of entrepreneurs that installs a Growth Operating System that creates a permanent, always-on capability for organic and inorganic growth. As SVP at Bionic, she built and led the Partner and Services team as well as led enterprise partnerships for brands including P&G, Nike, Anheuser-Busch and TD Ameritrade.

A seasoned entrepreneur, Maxine helped build multiple startups (Contently, Syncapse, Clickable, Brandimensions) and always played an early cofounding leadership team role. Maxine earned dual MBAs from Columbia University and London Business School and B.S. in Journalism from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Maxine and her family are currently based in the Hamptons after 20 years in NYC.

Carolyn Rossi Copeland

Executive Producer

Carolyn Rossi Copeland founded award-winning Lambs Theatre in 1978 where she was producing director until 1997. She produced more than 50 Off-Broadway plays and musicals. She was VP of Creative Affairs for Radio City Entertainment/MSG, where she oversaw the Broadway reincarnation of The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Wizard of Oz tour, and A Christmas Carol. She returned to reopen the Lambs after 9/11 until it was sold in 2006. She produced the hit Freud’s Last Session which played NYC for two years, Chicago. and LA. It is now a major motion picture starring Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode to be released by SONY Classics Spring 2024. She produced the Broadway Musical Amazing Grace which also toured the US. She serves as Executive Producer of Strouse IP, where she manages all the musicals of Charles Strouse. including ANNIE -BYE BYE BIRDIE etc. www.strouseip.com

Carolyn is currently Executive Producer of the MGM WB musical SUMMER STOCK. After its’ success at Goodspeed Opera house she is now looking to move it to Broadway. Married to Architect James Masson Copeland, together they have 4 daughters, 3 granddaughters and 2 more on the way! To God be the Glory, great things He has done!

Nitin Gambhir

Founder and CEO, Tethys Group of Companies

Nitin Gambhir is the founder of Tethys group of companies.  Mr. Gambhir is also the founder and chairman of Oceanus Securities. Nitin has been a passionate supporter of art both as a collector and a sponsor.   The Tethys Art platform was created to promote his two passions: Transformative Art and art genre explorations. Nitin collects and supports Transformative Art that is unafraid, breaks boundaries and is likely to actuate and sustain innovation.  Nitin is also deeply interested in exploring the interplay between disparate artists and art genres and uncovering the connections that bind and connect them.

Nitin has a Bachelors from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Masters from Yale University. He is a member of the board of several charitable organizations and the Yale School of Management and Yale International Center of Finance. He is passionate about charitable efforts promoting art, education and governance.

Kenneth F. Kroner

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Kenneth F. Kroner, PhD, retired as a Senior Managing Director at BlackRock in 2016. He ran BlackRock’s multi-asset business and their systematic active equity business, and served as a member of their Global Executive Committee and Global Operating Committee. Prior to that, he was an economics and finance professor at the University of Arizona.

Ken serves or has served on various academic boards, foundation boards, corporate boards and academic journal editorial boards. His family’s philanthropic work focuses on education and on social justice and human trafficking causes. Ken served as the global chair of UC San Diego’s recent capital campaign, which raised over $3b in philanthropic gifts.

NELSON MILLS

Columbia Property Trust, Chairman of the Board

Nelson has more than 30 years of experience in the real estate investment and financial services industries. He is responsible for overall strategy, operations, and financial performance of Columbia Property Trust, a $6 billion public real estate owner/operator. He also serves as a director on the Columbia Board. Prior to joining Columbia in 2010, he served for five years as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Williams Realty Advisors, LLC, managing and advising a series of real estate investment funds.

Previous roles included CFO of Lend Lease Real Estate Investments and Partner at KPMG LLP. He received a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee and an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia. Nelson and his wife, Judy, live adjacent to Madison Square Park in New York City.

Bo Han

Founder and CEO, Buzzer

Bo Han is a follower of Christ and the founder and CEO of Buzzer, a mobile platform for short-form live sports partnering with the NBA, WNBA, PGA TOUR, NHL, DAZN and FanDuel.

Prior to founding Buzzer, Bo led Twitter’s efforts in Global Live Sports Content Partnerships, and was responsible for driving partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and PGA and broadcasters ESPN, FOX, NBC and Turner.

Before joining Twitter in 2012, Bo started in the industry as a Global Account Director at Microsoft Corporation in New York, working with key and strategic global partners.

Bo received his Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and earned his MBA at Columbia Business School in New York, New York.

Matt Williams

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Matt Williams has worked in theater, film and television as a writer, director, and producer. Television: Creator of Roseanne, co-creator of Home Improvement, The Cosby Show, A Different World, The Conners, Soul Man, Costello, Carol & Company, Buddies, Thunder Alley, and Ready, Jet, Go! Film: Where the Heart Is, What Women Want, What Men Want, The Keeping Room, Bernie, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, Walker Payne, Firelight, and As Cool As I am. Theatre: Actually, We’re F*cked; Bruce Lee Is Dead and I’m Not Feeling Too Good Either, Jason and the Nun, and Between Daylight and Boonville; Open Heart (directed), Camping with Henry and Tom (produced), and The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (produced). He is a founding board member of The New Harmony Project, and The Cherry Lane Theatre. Matt is currently an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program, and lives in New York with his wife, actress Angelina Fiordellisi.

Kathleen Boord

COO, Scenic Advisement

Katie first learned of Many Hopes in 2019 and was immediately struck by its bold mission and long-term impact. With a background leading operations across tech and investment banking, she brings a strategic lens to the board—helping shape how Many Hopes scales its work and deepens its reach. Katie believes that meaningful change starts with individual action and that the ripple effects of empowering children can transform entire communities for generations. She lives just north of San Francisco in Marin County with her teenage daughter and son, and recharges through CrossFit, trail runs, yoga, and travel.

UK GOVERNING TRUSTEES

David Scott

Alice Scott

Victoria Thompson

JANE

While he was alive, Zawadi’s father worked hard. He had a good job that provided for his family, and though it was sad for his wife and four children when he passed away, they had means to survive.

They never expected what happened next. Zawadi’s relatives laid claim to all her father had left them, stealing their home and forcing Zawadi and her family out onto the streets.

Zawadi’s mother was too sick to fight; later, Zawadi would find out she was suffering from tuberculosis. At the tender age of five, Zawadi was sent to work on local farms, scrounging for what little she could get. As the eldest of her siblings, she was the family’s only hope for food.

Without access to medication, Zawadi’s mother soon died. Now all the siblings had were each other.

One night when the siblings were sleeping by the side of the road, a House Mother from our partners in Kenya spotted them. She notified the center’s legal team who intervened. Zawadi and her siblings were brought in and cared for; she and her sisters were given a safe home, access to food, and enrolled in school.

Now, Zawadi is entering her final year at the competitive Strathmore University in Nairobi, one of the very best universities in East Africa. She’s studying business and is developing a tech startup that aims to create local jobs in Nairobi for kids forced to live on the streets. She hopes this will allow them to save up for their education.

Zawadi is strong, powerful, and confident, and an advocate for those who need it most.

“Once you’re educated, you’re free” Zawadi says, now on the cusp of graduating. “This is the only thing. Knowledge, nobody will take knowledge from you. Everything they may take, but your knowledge is yours.”

“I have met people, I have listened to people speak, and I get information every time which is helping me move forward with my life… Most people who do not have access to education, once they’re given the opportunity, they do so well.”

SANTI

Come, the man said. Have a meal.

Santi, age eleven, squinted his eyes and looked into the man’s face. The man seemed earnest, but was he telling the truth?

Santi had heard stories about other children on the streets, children who followed strangers like this and were forced into lives of servitude.

Just then Santi’s stomach rumbled. Hunger shot through him like he’d swallowed knives.

There had been few cars to wash this week and he had not been able to buy food. Ever since he’d left his mother to find work in the city of Quetzaltenango, he’d counted on washing cars to make a few pennies. At night he slept in boxes with other children. They’d all left even worse conditions at home, but it was hard to convince themselves that this was any better.

The man waited patiently. Santi couldn’t think anymore. The hunger was making him sick. He nodded, and the man smiled. Santi followed him, hoping he was doing the right thing.

Luckily, the stranger was trustworthy: he brought Santi to our partners in Guatemala who not only gave him food but his very own bed and a place in school.

Santi put on weight and started to excel in his classes. He graduated middle school, then high school. Before, Santi had been part of the staggering 61% of children in Guatemala forced to drop out of school, but now he became part of an even more unique statistic: he entered the 1% of those in Gautemala who go on to earn a university degree. He did so with a scholarship earned through his academic achievement.

Today, Santi is a middle school teacher. He could choose to be anywhere, but he’s back at the same school that took him in when he needed it most, teaching eleven year olds that their lives count and that they, too, deserve a seat at the table.

QASIM

He’s an uncle, Qasim’s mother said, a distant uncle, so be on your best behavior and he’ll send you to school and make sure you’re always fed.

Food and an education were more than Qasim’s mother could give him, and even at the tender age of six Qasim knew he had to be brave. So when a man he’d never seen before picked him up from home to bring him to his far away relative, Qasim agreed. He hugged his mom and said he’d be good. He didn’t even cry when he said goodbye- he didn’t want to worry her. Qasim knew she was sending him away because a better life was ahead.

Yet the man never brought Qasim to his family. Instead, he was driven for hours to a lake where he was put on a boat. Then he was told to jump deep into the murky water to untangle fishing nets until his fingers cramped. This went on for hours.

That day, Qasim was trafficked. He stopped being a child as he became one of thousands of children forced to become the tiny, beating hearts sustaining the fishing industry on Lake Volta.

At first, Qasim thought he might be returned to his mother if he only worked hard enough and stayed alive. But nine years later, he was still on the lake, hauling nets, sick from hunger and trying to suppress years of abuse as he turned fifteen. Beatings with paddles had become routine; his hearing was permanently damaged from deep diving into the water to retrieve nets, and his body was covered in open wounds.

Qasim was rescued in March. He was given immediate medical care for his malnourishment and wounds, and then diagnosed with and treated for PTSD.

Finally, he was enrolled in school and began to receive the education he was promised so long ago.

Eager to catch up with peers he now calls friends, Qasim is taking night classes along with his daytime ones- he’s one of the most enthusiastic students at the center, and he’s known and loved by all who meet him. He’s first to volunteer when someone needs help and he plays soccer with the same kind of enthusiasm he brings to art class.

Qasim is thriving and finally, he’s home.

Amina

At age 11, Amina thought that nothing could be worse. The pain she felt when she lost her mother was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Every morning she woke up forgetting it had happened, and every morning the realization hit her like bricks. Her mother was dead. She would never hear her voice again, or see her smile, or run into her arms when her stomach rumbled from hunger. Somehow, her mother had made everything better and now she was gone.

Amina’s father was grief stricken but at least he and Amina had each other as they struggled to survive.

Then the unthinkable happened: a year later, Amina’s father died too. She was an orphan.

Amina briefly went to live with her sister, who was unable to pay the bills to keep her in school. So Amina went to work on a farm where she was paid next to nothing. The girls around Amina didn’t go to school either. Often married very young and giving birth to many children, it was clear they would never see the inside of a classroom again.

Amina’s elderly, impoverished grandfather intervened and insisted on taking her in. Though he could barely feed himself, never mind a growing child, he recognized that Amina was gifted. He knew that if she could only get an education, it would sustain her after he was gone. He was determined that she would go to school. Mustering all the fight he could, he got Amina to our partners in Malawi.

Amina was given a place at school and just as her grandfather predicted, she rose to the top of her class. With the consistency of a safe, happy life in the dorms and access to food and care, she was able to focus on her studies. Amina excelled. She went on to win a place at one of the top girls’ boarding schools in Malawi on academic merit and continued to flourish.

Seven years have passed since Amina arrived at our partner organization in Malawi and since then, her family’s dreams and her own have come true. Amina is now applying to nursing school so that she can become a midwife. She’s determined to give children who don’t have a mother the kind of love she got from her own.

Thanks to the love, care, and education that intervened in her own life, Amina is well on her way.

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