One man who has made it his mission to end child slavery and human trafficking will visit Iowa State to inform others and spread his mission.

James Kofi Annan will be on campus at 8 p.m. Thursday to present a lecture free to the public in the Memorial Union.

The lecture will focus on child slavery and human trafficking in the African country of Ghana. According to the events calendar, about 21,000 children are openly enslaved at Lake Volta in Ghana.

As a child, Annan was trafficked and forced into child labor for several years. 

Annan eventually went on to find Challenging Heights, an organization dedicated to children’s rights. It is the most prominent organization of its nature in West Africa.

Challenging Heights advocates for children’s rights to education and freedom among government agencies, civil societies and national and international policymakers. Annan uses education, economic empowerment and community mobilization to target the root causes of slavery.