January is Rotary’s vocational month and as such our club visited the Baptist Vocational Training Institute in Frankadua in the Eastern Region to give some career guidance to the about 40 student population.

The Baptist Vocational Training Centre was set up in 1998 with the aim of rehabilitating freed slaves of the “Trokosi” practice after the parliament of Ghana passed a bill making the practice illegal in June 1998. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) sensitized the fetish priests and Trokosi shrines to modify the Trokosi system by accepting other forms of reparation instead of human slaves for the atonement of crimes.

This move yielded some results by causing some shrine owners and priests to release some of the girls. The release of the girls called for the need to rehabilitate and restore them into free society.  The training centre offered vocational skills in hairdressing, dressmaking, tailoring, kente weaving, and carpentry. Initial support for the centre came from the UK Support Group. First graduation of the Centre was held on the 1^st of June 2002. Ten Trokosi girls passed out and each was given equipment in their chosen vocation as well. In the course of time, the centre opened up to enable other less privileged girls from surrounding communities to have access to vocational training.