A vocational training center aimed primarily to help (but not restricted to) former trokosi and their children, operated by the NGO International Needs Ghana in the town of Adidome (Volta Region, Ghana). Some of the skills taught are hairdressing, batik, baking, catering, dressmaking, and kente weaving. Reha bilitation and retraining are necessary after liberation because most trokosi are denied education and normal family life which would have taught them the skills necessary for life in their culture. The goal of the training center is to enable former trokosi to make a decent living and become contributing members of society after liberation.
African Traditional Religion (ATR)--
All trokosi shrines are part of a broad set of beliefs and practices called African Traditional Religion (although not all shrines of ATR practice trokosi). ATR practices what would commonly be known as animism, or the worship of many spirits, often spirits associated with nature, as well as ancestral spirits. Although virtually all forms of ATR acknowledge the existence of a Great High Creator God, much more attention is paid to spirits called "lesser gods," who are seen as intermediaries and as directly controlling affairs on earth. Adherents of ATR sometimes see the gods as benevolent or at least as potentially helpful, but it very commonly acknowledged that the gods kill and destroy human life in response to those who "swear" by them at the shrines. Christians see these spirits as demons, since according to Christian teaching, no good spirit can accept worship as these spirits do.
Afrikania Mission, Afrikan Renaissance Movement-- A group of African traditionalists who have banded together to promote traditional religion. Afrikania is the main, if not the only group arguing for the retention of the trokosi system and opposing the liberation of trokosi. They do not want to see the system abolished because they see it as part of their tradition and culture. The group was started by a former Catholic priest who left the Christian faith for that of African Traditional Religion (ATR). Afrikania seeks to strengthen ATR by uniting diverse groups and by introducing practices that on the surface seem more like those of Christains--Sunday worship, a set of holy books, adopting the ancient Egyptian god Amen-Ra as a single unifying deity, etc. The group is the moving force behind others, like the Trokosi Council. The Afrikania Mission may be thought of as the hand inside the glove--the moving force behind most movements advancing ATR. Access to visit shrines even in order to obtain objective information is often denied without prior permission from this group (which permission is virtually never given), and shrines are not free to make their own decisions about liberation without consulting this group. Because of this, some have suggested that the remaining trokosi shrines themselves have become slaves of the Afrikania Movement.
Amen-Ra-- An ancient Egyptian deity or idol. When the Afrikania Mission wanted to choose a deity to try to unify the diverse worshippers of many gods in the polytheistic system of traditional religion, they arbitrarily chose Amen-Ra as the head god. However, most traditional shrines pay little attention to Amen-Ra, each continuing devotion mainly to their own gods.
Apostate-- One who once professed Christianity but later and permanently and totally turned away from it and renounced it. The founder of the Afrikania Mission was an apostate from the Roman Catholic Church.
Benin-- A country in West Africa which is one of the major centers of trokosi slavery. In that country, the practice is commonly called Voodoosi, and is associated with Voodoo (Voudou, Voundoun) shrines.
Customary Servitude-- Another name for trokosi slavery. This is one of the wording used in the 1998 law which forbade the practice in Ghana (although the practice still exists there). It is involuntary servitude or slavery, and it exists because of the customs or traditions of certain shrines of African Traditional Religion.
Criminal Code Amendment-- Bill of 1998, made the practice of ritual or customary servitude a second-class felony in Ghana, punishable by not less than three years' imprisonment.
Divination-- A practice by which priests of Traditional Religion claim to contact and to obtain secret information from the gods. Divination frequently results in a demand for a virgin girl to compensate for some alleged crime which was supposedly revealed by the gods during the divination. Hence it results in promoting and multiplying the practice of trokosi slavery. The Bible contains many warnings against divination because there is a great danger of contacting wicked, deceptive spirits. In the Christian way of life, there is no need for divination, since God answers the prayers of His people.
Durbar-- A public ceremony at which government and community leaders are in attendance for the liberation of trokosi from specific shrines. NGO's working to liberate trokosi have chosen to hold a durbar in order to draw public attention to the practice, in order to prepare the former trokosi psychologically for freedom, and in order to prepare the community to receive them back into society as normal human beings.
Equality Now-- An NGO working for the promotions of human rights for women, supportive of liberating the trokosi and abolishing the practice of ritual servitude.
Every Child Ministries (ECM)-- One of the major NGO's that has been active in liberating trokosi and helping them after liberation, in drawing public attention to the problem, and in working for the eventual abolition of the practice. ECM has been especially active in providing continuing counseling for the trokosi following liberation. They have also taken children of trokosi who died while in slavery into their children's home, Haven of Hope.
Ewe-- A tribe stretching across southern Ghana, Togo, Benin, and a small part of Nigeria. A language spoken in Ghana and Togo. Trokosi shrines are predominantly associated with the Ewe and the related Fon tribal groups. In Ghana, Anti-Ewe sentiment has been an unfortunate result of the tribe's association with the trokosi practice.
Fear-- One of the greatest motivating factors in the trokosi slave system. Parents give their daughters into the system out of fear that the gods will kill their entire family if they do not do so. Tthe law against ritual servitude is not enforced out of fear, trokosi on temporary release return at the beck and call of the priest out of fear, some trokosi do not speak up about their sufferings out of fear, and even after liberation, some do not follow through on their own religious preferences out of fear. Often shrine leaders who want to liberate their trokosi hesitate to do so out of fear for their lives. This is one of the reasons Christians have been successfully involved in the liberations where others have failed, invoking the protection and divine enablement of Jesus Christ, whom they deem to be King of King and Lord of Lords to whom every spirit must be subject. Christians often point out that "God has not given us the spirit of fear," and that the opposite is true in idolatry, where people are controlled and manipulated through the fear factor.