Okada riders used noodles to trick girls into sex
In Jato Village, in the Suhum area of Ghana’s Eastern Region, many families are poor, according to statistics.
Parents often could not give their teenage girls money for food, pads or small school needs. Because of this, some girls asked okada riders (motorbike taxi men) for help.
The riders started giving the girls packs of Indomie noodles. People in the village called these noodle packs “laptop” because the pack opens like a laptop screen.
At first, it looked like kindness, just giving food to a hungry girl. But soon the riders used the “laptops” to trick girls into sex.
This caused a lot of teenage pregnancies. Almost every year, some girls who were pregnant still had to write the BECE exam.
“Before the project was introduced into our community in 2024, we were having a major challenge with teenage pregnancy in the community.
“It was very high. Almost every year, we were recording pregnant teenage candidates taking the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), and it was all because of the okada riders,” the Chief of Jato, Baffour Teitey Adjewi Narh III, said.
“The girls depended on the okada riders for food and other school needs. Parents were not providing these essentials for their wards, and so the girls were seeking them from the riders, who ended up sleeping with them. But because of the project they introduced in our community, we did not record any teenage pregnancy in the last BECE, that is 2025,” the elated chief disclosed.
In 2024, Plan International Ghana started a project called Rooting for Change. Tony’s Chocolonely paid for it. The project works in cocoa villages like Jato to stop early pregnancies.
They made a group called the Community Child Protection and Labour Committee (CCPLC). They talked to parents about taking good care of their children. They also taught the young people about their rights and what to do if someone tries to hurt them. Now, girls and boys feel brave enough to speak up.
“Now, the children are bold enough to talk to us about their problems. They are also able to express themselves confidently in public. They know their responsibilities as children, as well as their rights, something that was not there in the past,” he disclosed.
Even the okada riders noticed the change. One leader named Ivan Ayivor narrates his encounter with them and what they said.
“They said formerly, when we bring them ‘laptops’, the girls would be following them up and down, but nowadays, they don’t,” he said about his encounter with the riders.
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One of the girls said that, but for the project, she would have had multiple partners by now. She said she used to have a boyfriend, who was not an okada rider, though. She said she did not know the implications of her actions then that she could get pregnant, but now she did, and it was because of the education she had received.
“I have been advising the girls who are still into that behaviour to put a stop to it because it won’t help them in any way. Some listen, others do not. Some of those who listened had completed school and were now in senior high school,” she said.
One boy also said that although he did not have a girlfriend in the past, he was encouraged by friends to be a go-between, a kind of relationship intermediary for his friends and the girls.
“So, if somebody needed a girl, I would go and call them for the boys, who, after having sex with the girls, would give me money. When the project was introduced, and they encouraged us to love ourselves, I changed, and so now when I see the boys doing that, it pains me, and I advise them against that,” he said.
The project made youth clubs, trained peer teachers, started girls’ football teams, and talked to chiefs and church leaders. Little by little, things are getting better in Jato. The girls feel safer, stronger, and more hopeful about their future.
NA/AM
Meanwhile, watch GhanaWeb’s exposé on the ‘dark side of Kayamata’ and its devastating impact
