The day’s gold harvest When Joseph drops the dangerous mercury in the bucket, the grains of gold are left behind. Today he manages to collect three grams of gold.
School over gold Joseph swirls the pan of sand round and round. Sweat is running down his forehead and stinging his eyes. The water in the little pond contains the dangerous metal mercury, which stops the sores on his feet from healing. He is panning for gold to pay for his school fees.
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oseph doesn’t dream of sparkling necklaces, rings or golden crowns made of the gold he finds. “I sell the gold every afternoon. I just want the money so I can pay my school fees.” Joseph works every weekend and during the school holidays, panning for gold.
But it’s an illegal little gold mine. Only a few huge mines in central Ghana have permits from the government. Here on the coast people mine for gold without permits. The police often turn a blind eye, but not always. Joseph shovels sand and swirls the pan, looking for
gold. Tiny chips of gold glitter in the dark sand. He adds the liquid mercury and continues panning. The metal attracts the gold chips. Then he strains off the mercury through an old pair of shorts. The mercury drips into the bucket. When he opens the cloth, the grains of gold are left behind. He collects them in a little plastic bag. By sunset, he has three grams of gold to sell. Dad killed in a fight
Joseph lives with his older brother, who is unemployed. Joseph is almost constantly thinking about school fees.
He worries that the head teacher will send him home because he’s behind with the payments. But it wasn’t always like this. When Joseph was little he and his family lived on a plantation. His dad harvested palm tree fruit, which was then pressed to make palm oil. But Joseph’s dad became ill and they were thrown out of the plantation. Shortly after that his dad got into a fight and was knocked unconscious with a stone. The family had a TV and a fridge, but were forced to sell everything to get their dad to hospital. But he died anyway.
Global Vote!
Joseph’s school friends on children’s rights Right to healthcare
Right to parents
“I had just been vaccinated when I felt a shooting pain in my eye and I fainted. Now I can’t see anything out of my right eye. My parents used the last of our money to pay the doctor, but it wasn’t enough for an operation. Now it’s too late. I will never see out of that eye again. I want all the children in the world to have the right to healthcare!” Anita Cudjoe, 16
“My parents abandoned me when I was a week old. I’ve never met them. I’m grateful that the World’s Children’s Prize teaches us about our rights. Now I know that all children have the right to be looked after and to their parents, but it makes me sad when I think about how my parents let me down.” Matilda Dadzi, 16
School should be free
Joseph cast his vote in the Global Vote at Mpohor senior high school. There is a long queue to vote. “Voting gives us important knowledge. When we are adults we will be voting to elect Ghana’s president,” says Joseph. “If I became president I would fight for children’s rights. I would build schools for all children who have lost their parents.”
“I sell drinking water after school to earn the money to pay my school fees. I think that all children should be able to go to school without having to pay!” Lucy Amoah, 17
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