– COMFORTThe woman said she could get a job for me that would change my life for the better. She told me she’d somebody who could help me, her sister who lives in Italy. That’s what brought me here
– MERCYIn the streets in Abuja I heard people talk about travelling so I went to them and said I’d also love to travel. They said they knew a person who helps people go to Europe.
Before they depart on the journey, the women are taken to a voodoo shrine where they go through a magical ceremony and swear an oath not to run away from the job they will get in Europe. When they have left Nigeria, the journey turns into a nightmare. The traffickers abuse and rape them and they realise the horrible truth - they are being taken to Europe for prostitution.
– TINAIt was when we reached Libya, the place in Libya where people are kept before they cross. It was in one of those rooms where they keep girls who’ll be taken to Europe for prostitution, it was right there I realised. I heard them talking and that’s when I realised they’d deceived me. This was not about helping us anymore. It was then I started crying.
Having survived the sea crossing to Italy, the women are picked up by the traffickers and taken to their place of work, either a brothel or street prostitution. Their last hope of a decent job is cruelly crushed and they are often so afraid of the voodoo oath that they feel forced to comply.
– LORETTAThey never told me I was coming to do prostitution, they never told me they were going to sell me off.
– PATIENCEWhat they told me was once I got here I’d continue to practice my profession as a nurse. They didn’t tell me I’d be a prostitute.
– NORAI’d have been better off if they’d told me, then I wouldn’t have gone, I would have stayed put. Because anything that would make someone be treated like a slave or a prostitute, I don’t want to have any part in that. That’s why I advise my younger sisters. I’d say, anyone who tells them they can take them to Europe to work, they should turn down such an offer.