Stories from Survivors of Sex Trafficking
Behind all of the information and statistics on sexual slavery are millions of personal stories. Survivors share their stories because they hope that they will open people's eyes to the reality of modern day slavery. They want to encourage people to raise support to combat sexual trafficking, so others do not have to face the horrors that they have. I apologize for sharing such disturbing accounts of cruelty and suffering, yet I hope that you will respond with a motivation to help end slavery, once and for all. Please listen to the voices of these survivors......
Rosemary, from Nigeria, was eighteen years old when she ran away because her stepmother had burnt her with a hot iron on the insides of her thighs for refusing to be circumcised. She met a man on the street from the UK who offered to help her study and find part-time work. She took his offer because she was desperate to survive and didn't want to go home for fear of being circumcised. When she arrived in the UK she was trapped by two men who forced her to watch pornographic videos and raped her repeatedly. She was kept in a locked room for 24 hours a day, and was only given food when her abusers were not angry with her. She was forced to have sex with 5-10 men a day and if she didn't obey her orders, she was beaten by her captors. Now she is free, but she suffers from severe depression, insomnia, nightmares and hullicinations. She can't eat like she should be able to and she lives with a constant fear everyday of her life. (Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6224171.stm)
*************************
Nicoleta, from Romania, was trafficked into prostitution at the age of 18. In the UK she worked 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for over three years. Her captors refused to feed her because they didn't want her to become "fat" and she was forced to have sex without condoms. She was offered a job one day as a waitress by a friend of her stepfather's and took the oppertunity since she was from a poor family and was pressured to find work to support her mother and sister. Upon her arrival in the UK she was abused and raped by her pimp. She was locked inside the house for two weeks, raped and forced to watch sex films. She worked from 11am to 10pm everyday, and was required to satisfy her customers or she would be beaten. She could not escape because she was never left alone. Her abuser also threatned to inject her with drugs or cut off her sisters limbs if she attempted to flee. She is still plagued with physical pain, Chlamydia, and painful periods. She can't sleep, eat or concentrate and often has nightmares because of what happened to her. (Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/6224151.stm)
*************************
Srey was sold by her parents to a brothel when she was only five. No one knows exactly how much she was sold for, but some girls are being sold for $100, or even $10, in Cambodia. Srey was abused for months by pimps and sex tourists before she was rescued. She was passed from man to man and was often drugged so that she would remain compliant. One girl at the shelter where Srey is now located, which is run by Somaly Mam, was kept in a cage for two years and repeatedly raped. Srey is HIV positive and does not have much hope in a country that is full of poverty, but mostly devoid of hospitals and medical care. (Source:http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/23/sex.workers/index.html)
*************************
Sixteen year old Shauna Newell, from Flordia, was kidnapped by her friend's father during a sleep over. She was drugged, raped and beaten for 3 days before she was found. Her friend's father had sold her on the internet for $300,000 to some man in Texas, and was planning on transporting her there. During the time she was trapped, he had charged numerous men to rape her. She stated that when she screamed he held a gun to her head and threatned to kill her. She was barely alive when she was taken to the hospital and suffered from serious injuries, as well as an STD. (Source:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27098993/)
*************************
Michael Angelo, a 3 year old boy, was sold for 60 US dollars to a pimp. He is from Navatos in the Phillipines, a very poor community of 10,000 people who live on top of tombs in a graveyard. A lady came to the door and said that his family would get rich if they gave him away. She said that he would come back as a twenty year old with a million dollars. At school, teachers found out about what was happening and stopped the adoption of Michael Angelo before he was taken to China. They told his mother that he was being taken for sexual pleasure and would be abused by a man many times his size. They still are keeping close watch on the family to try to make sure that Michael is not sold. (Source:http://marisabanas.theworldrace.org/?filename=michael-angelo)
*************************
Ning, a former sex slave, was trafficked from to Australia from Thailand at the age of 13. She was trafficked to Australia and was expecting to work as a nanny. When she arrived at the brothel where she would be working she was told that she owed $35,000 to her traffickers and would have to have sex with 650 men to pay off her debt. She was not allowed to leave the brothel, and did not have any money or contacts in Australia. She was forced to sleep with as many as 100 men in 10 days before she was discovered by immigration officials. She suffered from Post Traumatic Stress disorder as well as severe depression because of the abuse that happened to her in Australia. Ning is the first women to recieve compensation from Australia for being a victim of sex trafficking. (Source:http://www.antislavery.org.au/pdf/sex_slave.pdf)
Here is a video entitled One Life, No Price that was created as as public service announcement by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. !!Please be aware that this video may contain content that is graphic and/or disturbing!!
