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Adordey� a clams, the favourite delicacy for many a traveller on the Tema-Aflao road, is keeping many children out of the classrooms at Ada in the Dangme East District of the Greater Accra Region. Children as young as 10 years of age have abandoned the classrooms to pick clams because it has become very rewarding. Eleven-year-old Tei Numo told the Weekend Finder recently that �I make enough money and I don�t see why I should be going to school. My mother is not here now and my father doesn�t mind if I go to school or not. After all, when I grow up I would need to work and make money.� The clam-picking job he does is killing even the older people. Some have died whilst others are living with vomiting blood, with the rest developing liver problems. In order to pick the clams from the river bed, they cover their mouths and noses with masks and then dive 30-50 feet deep down in the river using tubes that pump oxygen to them from air compressor machines. �We know it is not safe but t hat is what keeps us going underwater, as we pick the clams,� says 26-year-old Ayiku Nartey who took the Weekend Finder on a tour of how they work. When contacted, the administrator of the Dangme East District Hospital, Dr. Philip Narh, confirmed that �a number of the clam pickers are known to have died from either vomiting or passing blood in their urine over months and then died because they refused to seek medical care.� Sadly, the families of these young pickers, some as young as 10, have refused to seek medical help because they attribute every condition to a curse. Dr. Narh said the health authorities knew the district was prevalent with bilharzias which could be the cause of vomiting blood and passing of blood in the urine that some of the clam pickers had complained of, adding that �we have also had cases of people who experience upper respiratory tract diseases whilst others suffer from liver problems.� Dr. Narh said vomiting of blood which they knew was due to bilharzias could be treated in the hospital if it was reported early enough. �It is the upper respiratory disease and the damaging of the liver that are the problems that we have to educate them about so that they report early in order to get treated.� Nartey, who told the Weekend Finder that he had been picking claims for the past six years, explained how they prepare to dive down: �We cover our noses and mouths with masks and then use compressor machines to pump air to keep us breathing whilst we dive about 30 feet into the river to pick the clams. In order not to float, we attach leads onto our bodies to enable us to pick as much clams as we can.� Nartey said he could stay underwater for three hours to pick about three large basketful of clams which he sold at about GH�217 per basket. A former clam picker, Kofi Donu told the Weekend Finder that he stopped picking clams because of the hazards involved with the job. �There is the possibility of drowning if the compressor machine stops working suddenly and with the lead attached to your body, it is very difficult to get to the surface of the river,� he said. According to him, it was tempting to just dive and collect the clams to make money but �it also means that you are putting your life at risk.� He added that drowning was also caused by some people who drink before diving.