Through the work of their non-profit organization, Mercy Project, two ACU alumni were recently able to help free 24 child slaves in Ghana, West Africa.

Chris and Stacy Field (’06) started Mercy Project to help end child slavery in Ghana. They met through their high school youth group and eventually ended up attending ACU together. They have been married for eight years and live in College Station with their two children, both under 3. Chris is the executive director of Mercy Project, while Stacy uses her skills to serve and support Chris, their kids and the children they’ve helped.

Chris said he first learned about child trafficking issues through Pam Cope, sister-in-law of Mike Cope, who has also worked to fight child trafficking in Ghana through her foundation, Touch a Life.

“I went with Pam’s group and saw everything for the first time, what was happening, and that just kind of stirred in me kind of a need to do something kind of beyond even beyond a church, mission connection. I really thought we need to do something,” Chris said.

The Field’s originally began raising money for Touch a Life Foundation, but Chris said they became passionate about economic development and the role it plays in the child slavery crisis.

“We just got to where we really felt like so much of this issue of why these kids were trafficked in the first place revolved around poor economic opportunity for the fisherman, which led to the need for the men to own the children,” Chris said.

Mercy Project was launched in September 2010 with Chris working with the organization full-time. Chris said for the past few years they have been devoting time to learning more about child trafficking in Ghana and why and how it is happening.

“How can we do that? Well, it takes time and it takes money and it takes trips to Ghana and it takes talking to other people and talking to Ghanaians and just getting as many ideas and opinions and possibilities as you can,” Chris said.

In Ghana there are 7,000 – 10,000 children estimated to be working as slaves for the fishing industry. Although the government of Ghana has outlawed child trafficking, Chris said the government is unable to enforce the law.

Mercy Project is teaching the men in the fishing villages how to use aquaculture, or cage-fishing.

“What we’re basically doing is teaching the men this new way to fish, which basically allows them to catch more fish without having to actually use the children,” Chris said. “So it’s economically advantageous for them because they’re catching more fish, but it’s also really advantageous for the kids because it makes the labor of the children useless, because one or two men can now do the labor of five or ten kids.”

Chris described what they are doing as a “perfect storm,” because they are not asking the fishermen to give up their way of life. They are asking them to change it in a way that makes more sense for them, the community and the children.

On Sept. 29 Mercy Project rescued 24 child slaves from the village of Adovepke and took them to a rehabilitation center run by Ghanaians. The children will receive a formal education as well as medical attention and psychological counseling. They will remain in the center for three months while a  Ghanaian social worker is meeting with the children’s families to prepare them for the reintegration.

Chris and Stacy visited the shelter to check on the kids while they were in rehabilitation. The group also visited Adovepke to follow up with the fishermen and encourage them to remain a traffic-free community. Chris also said Mercy Project is building a house in the village. They plan on sending two missionary families to Ghana to live in the village with the fishermen and work with them on a daily basis.

Chis makes six to seven trips to Ghana each year. He said once the missionaries arrive next summer, he won’t have to make trips as frequently. Stacy has made two trips to Ghana. They said they intend to take their kids when they are old enough.

Stacy describes the roll she takes as a “supportive roll.”

“We have two young kids, so I stay home with them,” said Stacy. “So as far as anything formal I don’t really have time in my schedule for that, because of the kids. But we do a lot of planning for things together. I feel like I’m sort of a sounding board for him. But I feel that, if I didn’t support it, then we wouldn’t be doing it. We do it together, but I’m mostly the support person.”

Stacy traveled to Ghana for the first time two years ago. The trip in September was her second time to visit Ghana.

“I had never gone and seen what Chris does with Mercy Project, so it was just interesting for me to just kind of go and see what happens,” she said. “What is the village like? What are the people like? And so I was kind of an observer, but it was really neat for me to be able to see what happens and what takes place and how the negotiations work and how receptive the villagers were to Chris and to Mercy Project and our other Ghanaian employees.”

Chris said Stacy downplays the significance of her supportive role.

“She does it without complaining, she does it without grumbling,” he said. “I think that she definitely sees that, right now, the greatest gift she can give to Mercy Project is to make me feel like I’m available to do whatever needs to be done, to know that I have her support. And that’s pretty significant.”

Mercy Project is the Fields’ only job. When it comes time to take a trip they raise funds and set an operating budget. One of the fundraisers includes a marathon in the Bryan/College Station area. Before Thanksgiving, 3,300 people were already registered.

The Fields said they have big things planned for the future of Mercy Project. Chris said the good news is 24 kids were rescued, but the bad news is there are thousands more left. He said they view this as the beginning of the journey and the first big victory on what they anticipate to be a long road that will take a lot of time.

Stacy said, “I think one thing that we believe is that the Lord is in this, and if He wasn’t in it we wouldn’t be successful. And it’s really not us that makes all this happen, but it’s His favor on us and on the things we do and on his children that are the reasons why we’ve been able to do the things we’ve been doing and because we feel like he’s in the middle of it and He continues to show up and be faithful and we’re just going to keep going until there’s some way that he’s making it clear there’s another direction to go.”