| "O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on | | | | Oct. 29, 2006, activists Pam and Randy Cope quickly |
| the sea". - William Whiting | | | | set about trying to save as many children as they |
| Essential, gut-wrenching viewing | | | | could. There are thousands of them working in the |
| The saddest thing about Touch A Life: Child Slavery | | | | fishing industry in Eastern Ghana, many sold by their |
| on Ghana's Lake Volta is that it depicts real events | | | | parents for $20. Some are as young as 6. They |
| that are happening right now. When we hear the word | | | | speak of being beaten by their masters. They're afraid |
| slavery, we might think of the Middle Passage or some | | | | of being attacked by crocodiles and electric eels, and |
| other past injustice. And yet here is this film, telling us | | | | live with the ever-present threat of drowning. Some of |
| that a child was rescued from slavery only two | | | | the girls end up getting pregnant. We see a |
| months ago, in September 2008. | | | | prepubescent girl holding a baby. They should be |
| Inspired by a New York Times article about the | | | | siblings, but nothing that "should be" seems to exist on |
| horrors of forced African labor that was published on | | | | this continent. |