Project Redwood Co-Chair Mike Fitzgerald’s curiosity — and openness to striking up conversations with strangers — changed the trajectory of a nonprofit rescuing trafficked children in Ghana.
At JFK airport Mike noticed high school teacher Evan Robbins hauling a massive duffle bag of donated clothing, and started a conversation. That chance encounter led to an exchange of business cards, an ongoing connection, and eventually Project Redwood funding for Evan’s nonprofit, Breaking the Chain Through Education (BTCTE).
Evan founded BTCTE after reading a New York Times story about child trafficking on Ghana’s Lake Volta, where children as young as four are forced into dangerous labor on fishing boats.
Impoverished families living near Ghana’s Lake Volta often sell or give up their children to work on the boats. Youngsters are forced into long days of diving beneath the boats to free snarled fishing nets or harvest entangled fish. Drowning, and illness from tainted water, are not uncommon. An estimated 38% of children living in Lake Volta communities are trafficked.
Images of a malnourished, ill-treated six-year-old compelled Evan to engage his students in raising funds to help save enslaved children — and gradually to build a nonprofit to care for rescued victims. What began as a classroom fundraising effort grew into an organization dedicated to rescuing and supporting survivors.
Today, BTCTE provides housing, education, healthcare, emotional support, and vocational opportunities for more than 120 children, while supporting hundreds of current and former beneficiaries as they build independent lives. BTCTE helps these youth by outfitting small businesses, finding apprenticeships, and providing vocational training or supporting post-secondary education. Project Redwood grants have helped expand BTCTE’s Residential and Education Center and support additional rescued children.
BTCTE’s impact is reflected in the words of one survivor, who told Evan: “I was nobody, and you made me somebody.”