Week 4

For my community development project, I decided to interview the reintegrated children of Immuna. These boys were trafficked at a young age into the fishing industry near Lake Volta. The interviews were more than challenging; a language barrier on top of an extremely personal topic made for some obstacles that we needed to cross. One boy in particular was excited to be interviewed. I made sure to befriend the boys beforehand and gain their trust before asking if they like to participate. So this one boy decided he would do it, we set up a time and date, and unlike some others, he showed up. I was very excited. We sat down and I typically start with light and easy questions. Describe yourself. What are some of your favorite activities? All was going well until I directed the conversation to the day they were taken. I ask them, "How old were you when you were taken?". He responded with a fairly common age. I dug deeper and he soon began to talk about something that sounded like a soccer camp. I began to wonder if I hadn't been clear. I then asked him if he had been fishing during that time. He said no. I then asked him if he knew the man who had rescued many of the boys. Again, another no. I panicked in my mind, said thank you, and quickly ended the interview.

I ran back inside to tell Alexa and Siera, and they were just as baffled as I was. How did this happen? Was he actually trafficked? We had many confirmations, including from his younger brother, saying that he was among those who were taken. I then wondered if he had lied because he had become uncomfortable. When I came back outside, I saw him hanging out with other boys on our porch. About 15 minutes later he came up to me, telling me he needed to do the interview again. He said he had "wronged me". He wanted what I had recorded to be deleted and said we could start all over. I happily told him it was no problem and we rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I then concluded he must have been too uncomfortable to continue during the interview.

The next day, we returned to our seats and began again. To my utter confusion and shock, he began with the soccer camp story once again. I asked him if he had ever been taken to Yeji. He started to try to pronounce Yeji, as if he had never heard of it, and then he said he had never been there. I slowly explained what I was trying to do, telling him exactly what my project was intended to do, that I wanted to speak with the boys who were trafficked to Yeji. He then said, "Okay, yes, I have gone there". I asked if he wanted to talk to me about it, stressing that it was 100% okay if he did not want to go through with it. Then, he said, "Okay, yes, I will talk about it." Soon after, he gave me such a compelling interview, that at times I had to stop myself and think- wow- what a truly courageous young man.