A 5-day Workshop on human trafficking organised for “Talitha Kum” members in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso and some lay Collaborators who work to combat human trafficking, has successfully ended in Accra, Ghana’s Capital City with a resolve to strive to practicalise the knowledge acquired to deal with the menace which is ravaging the sub-region.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Network of “Talitha Kum” known as Consecrated Persons Against Human Trafficking ( ConPAHT- Talitha Kum Ghana), coordinated by Sr. Olivia Umoh, DC, Director of Safe-Child Advocacy in Ghana’s Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi.
It was attended by 25 Consecrated Men and Women and lay collaborators from Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso with the aim of exploring effective collaboration and networking methods in stopping human trafficking in the sub-region.
“Talitha Kum” is an International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons, working as a network to facilitate collaboration and interchange of information between Consecrated Men and Women in 94 countries.
There were two main resource persons at the Workshop including Sr. Philomena Okwu, DC, member of the Daughters of Charity (DC) and the Coordinator of the Committee for the Support of the Dignity of Women (COSUDOW) in Nigeria who addressed the participants on Collaboration and Networking.
Sr. Prof. Frances Emily Owusu-Ansah, a Sister of the Institute of the Daughters of the Most Holy Trinity (FST) and an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Behavioural Sciences of the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), spoke on Management of Diversity and Conflict on the 4th day of the workshop.
Sr. Emily reflected with participants on the Diversity as an enrichment and discussed elaborately on the types of conflicts, causes and various coping strategies.
She emphasised that different types of conflicts require to adopt in managing a particular conflict largely depended on two key factors namely, the type of outcome desired to get and the quality of relationship one want to have afterwards.
Dilating on the topic, Sr. Olivia Umoh, a member of Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the exploration on management of Diversity and Conflict was necessary to help network members to learn skills to manage personal conflicts positively and to help victims/survival of human trafficking manage their conflicts in ways that would be liberating.
She noted further, “it is believed that for effective collaboration, the networks need to appreciate their diversities and differences.”
At the Workshop, Sr. Monica Onwunali, OLA from Nigeria, Fr. Richard Opoku Acheampong, CSSp from Ghana and Fr. Cornelius Apili, SJ from Nigeria who are members of the Network also shared inputs on various aspects of human trafficking to help new members deepen their understanding around the menace.
Their presentations were on the Overview of Human Trafficking, The Biblical Injections and the Stance of the Catholic Church on Human Trafficking and Unveiling the Reality of Human Trafficking in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
Addressing the members of the networks from Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso at the end of the Workshop, Sr. Olivia Umoh, thanked the them for their zeal and commitment to putting into practice the fruits of the Workshop.
Talitha Kum is an International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons that responsibly and creatively implements the decision taken in 2001 by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) Plenary Assembly: “to work in solidarity with one another within our own religious communities and in the countries in which we are located to address insistently at every level the abuse and sexual exploitation of women and children with particular attention to the trafficking of women which has become a lucrative multinational business.”
Talitha Kum is part of the UISG and coordinates the anti-trafficking efforts of Religious Sisters, facilitating networking, communication and formation, according to the strategic planning of the UISG and the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church.
Talita Kum is an expression that is found in the Gospel of Mark (5, 41). The words, translated from the Aramaic mean “young girl, I say to you, arise.” These words are addressed by Jesus to the twelve year old daughter of Jairus, who lay apparently lifeless. After uttering these words, Jesus took her by the hand and she immediately got up and walked.
The worldwide network of consecrated life committed against trafficking of people chose the expression “Talitha Kum” to define their identity. The expression “Talitha Kum” has the transformative power of compassion and mercy, which awakens the deep desire for dignity and life which may be asleep and injured by the many forms of exploitation.
