Queens--Traditional opposition like the Afrikania Mission sometimes claims that trokosi are actually treated like queens. No trokosi has yet agreed with that claim.
Rape-- Forced sexual intercourse, common in the shrines. Priests and shrine elders alike regularly force themselves on trokosi as representatives of the gods. The average number of children born to trokosi as a result is about 4 per girl. (Shrine practices vary. A very few shrines have experienced a minimal amount of rape, but in most shrines it is an everyday practice.)
Rehabilitation--A process of rebuilding the lives of the former shrine slaves which takes place after liberation, usually with the help of NGO's or churches and includes counseling, teaching and vocational training, possibly including micro-credit.
Replacement-- The practice of taking in another trokosi whenever one dies or runs away, on the basis that every crime must continue to be atoned for until the end of time.
Ritual Servitude-- The practice of taking shrine slaves, usually to attempt atonement for the real or alleged crimes of a male family member or ancestor.
Schnapps-- A hard liquor used in some traditional rituals and frequently required as partial payment for the services of the shrine.
Secrecy-- A key element in enabling the trokosi slave system. In the past, those who experienced the horrors of the system were sworn to secrecy under penalty of death if they divulged the secrets of the shrines. Secrecy today is a big part of the opposition program promoted by the Afrikania Mission, which commonly requires shrines to consult them before even speaking to visitors, and then regularly denies such permission. A key part of the program to abolish the practice is the breaking of secrecy and the dissemination of information for public scrutiny.
Slaves-- Those who are forced to serve another without benefit to themselves. Former trokosi who have been liberated feel that they were used as slaves in the system.
Slavery-- The practice of forced labor and/or confinement. Trokosi is considered a system of slavery because the girls are forced into serving and have no choice in the matter, they are forced to work for the good of the shrine and receive no personal benefit, and are often confined to the shrine or limited to places where they are sent by the priests.
Swearing place-- A part of some traditional shrines where people invoke the help of the shrine gods to curse someone thought to have harmed them. This initiates sickness and death in the family of the one cursed and often results ultimately in a young virgin girl being given into a life of slavery at the shrine as a trokosi.
Starvation-- One of the ways in which the priests of trokosi shrines keep their slaves under control, also used as a punishment for any slight offense in the shrines. Starvation is rarely total--that is, trokosi are rarely starved to death, but it is used to the point of invoking great suffering.
Temporary Release-- When a trokosi is given permission to leave the shrine and live apart from it. She is still not free, though. She still has to come whenever called and bring expensive gifts to the priest. She can marry, but this and all other decisions of life are under the control of the shrine. While most former trokosi describe temporary release as much better than living in the shrine, most also spend their whole lives scraping together the gifts required by the shrine. It is virtually impossible for a girl to get ahead on temporary release, because any profit she makes will be consumed by the shrine.
Togo-- A country of West Africa where trokosi is practiced in some traditional shrines. It is often called Voodoosi there. The trokosi or voodoosi of Togo have yet to be freed.
Traditional Religion-- See African Traditional Religion.
Tro-Horvi Council-- Composed of some but by no means all representatives of trokosi shrines, this group supports the trokosi system and opposes liberation of the slaves. See Trokosi Council.
Tro-- A lesser god or idol god in the Ewe language, a god or spirit worshiped in the shrines, a god that is said to demand living human sacrifices to become shrine slaves in order to atone for the sins of relatives or ancestors.
Trokosi-- The practice of involuntary ritual servitude, especially the practice of demanding young virgin girls as living sacrifices to atone for the real or alleged misdeeds of (almost always male) relatives or ancestors.
Trokosi Abolition Fellowship-- An NGO in Ghana that diseminates information and raises public awareness of the trokosi problem, working for its abolition.
Trokosi Council-- A group of shrines and priests, animated by the Afrikania Mission, that has proclaimed themselves to be the only true spokesmen on traditional culture relating to the trokosi issue. Any trokosi shrine that chose not to join the Council was declared to be not a true trokosi shrine. In reality the council represents only a portion of trokosi shrines, and even some shrines within the group have liberated their trokosi. The council frequently publishes their claims in Ghanaian newspapers.
Trokosi priest, priestess--One who serves in a traditional (idol) shrine to consult the spirits by divination and who takes in human slaves called trokosi.
Trokosi shrine-- A traditional shrine in which ritual servitude known as trokosi is practiced.
Troxovi-- The traditional Ewe spelling or orthography for "trokosi."
Voodoo or voudou or voudoun or vudu-- Refers both to the idol gods worshiped in traditional shrines and to the worship itself. Primarily a French word used in Togo and Benin. English equivalents are tro, fetish, and idol (for the gods), or trokosi, fetish worship, and idolatry (for the worship).
Voodoosi or voudousi or voudounsi or vudusi-- A French word used in Togo and Benin to denote trokosi or fetish slaves, those in ritual servitude in the shrines.
Wives of the gods-- A term commonly used to refer to trokosi. Because the ritual slaves are considered wives of the gods, traditionalists consider it proper for the priests representing those gods to have sex with them.
Witchcraft pot-- A common term for the calabash (hollow gourd or gourd shell) in which certain items are placed when a trokosi is initiated to spiritually and psychologically bind her to the shrine. Some trokosi have burned their witchcraft pots upon liberation without any harm coming to them when it is done in the name of Jesus Christ. This was done to show that their break with the shrine is complete.
