In a circle on a sandy coastline dotted with palm trees, a group of people sit enthralled, oblivious to the rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean behind them or to the heated cries of boys playing beach football nearby.

A much more exciting football game between world famous Brazilian and Ghanaian stars is being played out in the mind of a small boy in the group and its full drama is being vividly brought to life by his breathtakingly rapid and hilarious commentary.

It's a rare moment of relief. As the laughter fades with the game's exciting conclusion, reality once more intrudes. "I'm the only girl in the family so all the chores fall to me and I get so tired by the evening," says a girl in a brown print dress.

"The money I get from my parents to buy food at school is not enough and I am hungry," pipes up an older boy.

Of all the refrains, this is the most oftrepeated.

The gathering on the beach is a weekly mentoring session for a group of former child victims of trafficking in Cape Coast in Ghana's Central Region and an opportunity for the children to unburden their woes, get some advice, and some tutoring help with their schoolwork. Organized by Ghana's Education Service, the mentoring is part of a package of services being provided by IOM, various government ministries and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to help Ghanaian child trafficking victims recover from their trauma and reintegrate into families and communities.

Since 2003, with funding from the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees (PRM), IOM has rescued nearly 650 children in Ghana knowingly or unknowingly trafficked by parents to work in fishing communities on Lake Volta in the belief they would be fed, educated and taught a useful trade.

The reality is often different. Forced to work painfully long hours doing heavy and dangerous work because owners or 'masters' can't afford to pay adults to do their jobs, the children are also severely underfed and often abused physically and verbally.

The rehabilitation and reintegration assistance provided to the children by IOM with and through its government and NGO partners includes medical care and psychological counselling in the immediate aftermath of rescue. After that, the children receive regular medical check-ups, help with school fees, books, materials and uniforms, as well as counselling and mentoring assistance for two and a half years after.

But helping the children to recover mentally and physically is proving to be a greater challenge than rescuing them.

"Many of the children have blanked out what happened to them," says Mavis Narh, public health nurse in Mfantsiman district in Cape Coast. "Those who are living with their parents are coping better than those living with guardians who often have no jobs and have difficulty in making ends meet."

Food – the Main Issue

For 10-year-old Geoffrey and older brother Emmanuel, trafficked for three years, the absence of a mother unseen in seven months and barely present since their rescue is an unbearable pain etched on their faces.

"They long for some maternal affection, someone to care for them and feed them. Sometimes they come to my office and I give them some food and talk to them, but this is not enough. They need more," explains Comfort Seglah, a social welfare officer.

Emmanuel asks if Comfort can find their mother but it is an impossible task. The boys live with their brother Wisdom and nine other children as well as Wisdom's wife.

Food, Mavis Narh says, is the issue in the counselling sessions with trafficked children. "If we could feed these children properly, we would see significant results in just a few short months."

Faustina Amegashie-Aheto, head of a clinical unit in a district in the Volta region where 90 per cent of the children rescued by IOM live, would agree.

A health assessment of 178 children a year after their rescue revealed that 38 per cent of the children were still suffering from stunted growth while 62 per cent were underweight. Although de-worming and improved food intake meant that these figures were a vast improvement on those just gleaned after the children's rescue, they highlight the enormous work ahead to improve the children's health.

But lack of financial resources means that even the three monthly regular medical checks to spot and treat illnesses are not always possible. And if children fall sick in between, there is no free health care.

Although the Ghanaian government is now paying for school fees through a grant, a pilot school feeding programme to address the food issue among trafficked children does not reach all.

"The children in my school are not malnourished. They are just hungry and this hunger is affecting school performance," says the headmaster of Srafa Wesley Community Primary School in Cape Coast, Emmanuel Ekowa Arthur. Here, 96 of the 225 pupils were trafficking victims. It is a situation IOM is aware of and while it recognises the impact this hunger is likely to have on the school retention rates of trafficked children, the Organization's hands are tied without additional resources.

"At the moment, the retention rate is over 90 per cent but that is because of our sponsorship. The reality is that if 50 per cent of these children actually go on and finish their schooling, the programme would be successful. But we won't know this for several years," says Jo Rispoli of IOM in Ghana.

There are also other emerging long-term issues that will bear on the outcome.

Challenge of Finishing School

Sitting on the low stone wall outside his classroom at the Srafa Wesley School is Ebenezer Coffie.

Aged seven and as the eldest son, he was sent to Yeji with a sister. His father's death meant his mother couldn't feed all seven children. He spent eight years in forced labour and even now, two years after rescue, he doesn't talk about that time.

Immaculate in a pressed yellow-shirted school uniform and polished white shoes, Ebenezer stands out because of the obvious care he and the grandmother he lives with take over his appearance. Yet he is terribly shy, unable to look people in the eyes and stammers when he talks.

His headmaster says this is common among the trafficked children. Nevertheless, Ebenezer's goal is to finish his education and work in a bank so he can look after his mother and siblings who live far from him in Accra.

But 17-year-old Ebenezer is in a class for nine-year-olds. He would be 20 before he finished primary school and 28 if he finished secondary education necessary for such career aspirations. This assuming it would be financially possible.

"At times I am hurt because other kids my age have already finished school or are about to. If I had been here, I would have finished school and that hurts me," Ebenezer reveals.

Julia Damalie of the Ghana Education Service and in charge of girl and child education in his district recognises the difficulties older trafficked children face when going back to school.

"We may need to consider allowing the children to jump years if they have the ability. We know that some children would much rather not go to school any more because of this age difference issue and instead learn a trade but there is no such facility to provide this at the moment," she explains.

One such child is 16-year-old Ama Botwe. Angry and unforgiving towards her mother, she has dropped out of school because of the teasing from the other children. She wants to be a seamstress but her mother cannot afford to apprentice her.

If It Wasn't for Your Help...

Although Afua Akyere received microcredit assistance from IOM to help her provide for Ama and two of her other trafficked children, she is struggling to make her bar business a success. She wants to branch out and sell food but has no money to buy stock.

Nana, a mother of two trafficked boys in Ebenezer's class asks for some more money. Although she set up a small food stall at the school with her micro-credit assistance where at lunch time children can buy a bowl of rice and meat soup for less than $0.20, her profits are too low. The same bowl of food in the nearest town could be sold for $0.50. But the town is too far away and she has no transport.

"Whatever money you give me, I will use for the children's education so they can have a better future. One day they will point at you and say, 'if it wasn't for your help, we would not be who we are'. So please send us the money," she appeals.

But to provide even the minimum level of comprehensive rehabilitation assistance, IOM has cut down the number of children it rescues each year to 25 children. It was a tough decision considering how many other Ebenezers and Amas need rescuing.

"We know this assistance is not enough. We need to provide more than two years of care and support individually tailored to meet the needs of each child. Without this, we may not be able to avoid instances of re-trafficking," asserts Rispoli.

Generous public donations to IOM through television programmes in the US and France have led to 11 more children being rescued in 2008 than planned and the individual sponsoring of 95 children.

"We've made a great deal of progress but many challenges remain. The key is to secure enough funding to ensure that the future holds a promise for all the children," adds Rispoli.

To contribute or to sponsor a child through IOM's rescue and reintegration programme, please go to http://iomdonations.kintera.org/