Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Benin, a majestic arch marks the point of no return where through the centuries millions of slaves waited in chains to be shipped to America. But now a modern-day form of slavery has gripped the West African nation again.

I just felt really burdened by the fact that children are being taken as slavery.

Carmen Morris is a Florida business woman who's on her third visit to Benin. She's on a personal mission to help end the human trafficking and is building a sanctuary for those children, some as young as 5, who've been rescued by local police from their lives as what she calls slave laborers.

The first trip that we took, 160 children were rescued from child slavery.
According to UNICEF the overall numbers are staggering. 1.2 million children are trafficked each year worldwide, 50,000 of them in Benin alone. Many are sold by their parents.

Poverty is a problem here in Benin as it is in almost of Africa. It is poverty that is fueling the slave trade, forcing parents either sell their children to traffickers on purpose or inadvertently.

Traffickers would often swoop on the poor remote villages, offering money for the children or promising paying jobs in bigger cities like nearby Cotonou or Lagos, Nigeria. In Benin the children are put to work by local traders in bustling markets selling everything from soda to a local delicacy: barbecued bush rats.

Morris is determined to do what she can to stop the cycle. Sometimes the job is overwhelming. You know you have been hearing these stories for 3 years, and, and, we just can't stop feeling. And as the ground is broken on a new sanctuary for lost children, Carmen knows she will be back.

Jennifer Santiago, for CBS News, Benin.