Nick News with Linda Ellerbee Follows American Kids in Africa to Stop Human Trafficking Tonight, 7/15

This show is about a rescue mission. Human trafficking is an international problem affecting millions of people and many countries around the world. Nick News with Linda Ellerbee shines a light on this huge issue in the new half-hour special, "Kids for Sale: Slavery in Ghana," premiering tonight, July 15, at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

The special features Tetteh, who became a victim of human trafficking at the age of five when a man came to his village in Ghana and took him away. In Ghana, fishermen buy kids to work in and out of the water risking their lives for no money and not much food.

"Before you know it, you're in hell," says Tetteh.

In Brentwood, Calif., 15-year-old Tyler saw a television report about this issue when he was nine. He was so moved that he began raising money so that kids can return to their families.

"The parents are deceived into believing that the child's life will become better," says Tyler. "They just lie to you."

"The job I do here is very difficult, and we work for long hours," says Kwadwo, who was recently rescued. "I would just keep praying over and over that nothing bad happened to us."

This year, Tyler traveled to Ghana where he, Tetteh and other people, including many kids and former kid slaves, joined forces to rescue kids from human trafficking.

"At Nick News, we've always said that wherever you find bad things happening, you find good people trying to make it better-kids included," says Ellerbee.

Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is now in its 21st year and is the longest-running kids' news show in television history. It has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. Over the years, Nick News has received more than 21 Emmy nominations and recently won its ninth Emmy Award for Under the Influence: Kids of Alcoholics in the category of Outstanding Children's Nonfiction Program. Additional Emmy wins for outstanding children's programming include: The Face of Courage: Kids Living with Cancer (2010); Coming Home: When Parents Return from War (2009); The Untouchable Kids of India (2008); Private Worlds: Kids and Autism (2007); Never Again: From the Holocaust to the Sudan (2005); Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan (2002) and What Are You Staring At? (1998). In addition, in 1995, the entire series won the Emmy. In 2009, Nick News was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for best Network News Documentary for Coming Home: When Parents Return from War - the first-ever kids' television program to receive this prestigious award. Nick News has also received three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for explaining the impeachment of President Clinton to kids, as well as a Columbia duPont Award and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards.

Nickelodeon, now in its 33rd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 17 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B).

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