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This year marks the tenth anniversary of Centenary's involvement with Breaking the Chain through Education (BTCTE), the local grassroots charity that is working to eradicate child slave trafficking in Ghana, West Africa. Last Sunday (September 22), the founder and President of BTCTE, Evan Robbins, attended our worship service to update the congregation on the organization's work in Ghana, as he has done annually for the past ten years. One of the things that stood out in Evan's slide presentation was how many of the rescued children, who were just five or six years old when we first "met" them a decade ago, are now young adults with the necessary education and skills to confidently look forward to a brighter future.
Breaking the Chain Through Education traces its origins to a life-changing day in the year 2006 when Robbins, a Social Studies teacher at Metuchen High School, read a newspaper article about a six-year-old boy enslaved in the fishing industry on Lake Volta in Ghana. This boy, and other young children like him, had been sold into slavery by their parents, for as little as $150, so they would have enough money to provide food for the other children in their families.
The enslaved children depicted in the article were malnourished, barely clothed, slept on mud floors, and spent up to 14 hours a day working on rickety fishing boats and at other jobs, often under dangerous conditions. Robbins, who had a six-year-old daughter at the time, felt compelled to take action to help save the lives of these defenseless children. He brought this issue to the attention of his high school students, and they embarked on a quest to learn more about modern day slavery. The students formed a BTCTE Club, and in two years raised $25,000 to rescue five trafficked children in Ghana in 2010.
Today, 14 years later, BTCTE is funding the care of approximately one hundred children and young adults who have been rescued from slavery. Each summer, Evan, along with members of the BTCTE board and others dedicated to its mission, spends several weeks in Ghana. During these visits, Evan and members of his team visit each of the beneficiaries under their care, assessing their needs, helping to solve problems, clarifying future goals, and offering practical guidance, as well as bringing hope and encouragement.
The proceeds from our mission barrel offering for the month of September will go to Breaking the Chain Through Education. The barrel is an important source of the funding we provide to BTCTE each year. If you would like to make a special gift to support Breaking The Chain Through Education's important work in Ghana, make out a check to Centenary UMC, write "BTCTE" on the memo line, and drop it in the mission barrel this Sunday, or mail it to the church office. Your strong support of this major mission project of our church for the past decade is greatly appreciated. For more information about this project, please visit the excellent Breaking the Chain Through Education website.
Bob Carlson, Chair
Missions Committee
A FINAL NOTE: In what Pastor Sooah calls a "holy coincidence," we had a first-time visitor at the September 22 worship service at which Evan Robbins spoke. He was a man named Ben, who spent the first 32 years of his life in Ghana before coming to the United States. He now lives in Somerville and works in Edison. Looking for a place to worship last Sunday, he randomly chose Centenary. Needless to say, he was surprised and impressed to hear Evan's account of the work being done in his former homeland by Breaking The Chain Through Education. God works in mysterious ways!
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