Cynthia's Story

Just like every other household ululations were heard coming from a single aluminium room in the slums of Nairobi Kenya.

"I'm now a proud grandmother of a bouncing baby girl and we will call her Lucracia", a woman said as she came out.

 

I am Lucracia 20 years old from Nairobi Kenya and this is my story.

 

Born and raised in the slums by my grandmother was the best blessing for me yet a curse at the same time.My grandmother took me in when my mother went overseas in search of greener pastures for my future when I was only seven years old.

 

We had an amazing bond but it faded away as years passed by without hearing a word from her,my grandmother was now the mother i knew.

 

Coming from a single family and one that poverty runs was never easy for us to get through the next day.Yes mom had siblings but due to the poor condition at home they went ahead to seek a better future for themselves and that's how we ended up being the both of us.Just my grandmother and i.

 

A porridge hawker had bills to foot at a very old age,having a young girl at home to provide for grandma had no choice but to struggle her way through all odds.I remember her coming home with nothing simply because the city council officers took her goods in demand of a business permit.Such days meant going to bed empty stomach.Times she'd go and come home with zero sales made,one way or another we always overcame thanks to the love and care we had for each other.

 

Going to school was a nightmare that hurts to date because i have never understood why i had to be stigmatized everyday by both my mates and teachers.Being the untidy girl in the block with worn out uniform,shoes and school bag affording textbooks was so out of the question talk less of not performing well in class.Was constantly on my own.At first it was so hard for me but as the weeks turned into months i adjusted the real reason behind my being an introvert today.

At home it was not different but I only played with boys since girls could not accept me being the most shaggy child.I remember some parents telling me to my face that i should not go close to their children as i am a bad omen.

 

My favourite part however was all the quality times i had with grandma,she would narrate how i was born to how i took my first steps but most importantly she used to counsel me alot saying she would not want me to end up like her.She would make sure i attend all the sunday school classes whether i like it or not because she is such a heavy believer and this is one thing i appreciate the most.

 

School,home or church I never knew any other place for ten years straight.I was so innocent from the ways of this world making me super vulnerable due to me being so naive.

 

About to sit for my primary national examination my biological mother came and i can't express how happy and excited i was because at some point in my life i thought grandmother was just telling me fairy tales of me having a mother whom i had no experience whatsoever with.I even got bullied and harassed but all this helped me grow thicker skin.

 

My mother could not handle me neither did i,our personalities were too different that we could not stand each other,i snapped when my mother asked me to go with her and leave grandmother behind,i refused and that's how the left over mother daughter bond between us broke but that was the least of my concerns at that point.

 

Performed fairly and was to be admitted to a decent highschool but the school fees was way too much for my grandmother. I actually reported so late as we both had no hope of me advancing my education further but miraculously I joined a day school which to me was my new found heaven.

 

Two years down the line I was the teachers favourite as i swore to work so hard that unlike in my primary level i was always the leading student in highschool.Got several rewards for performing so well in physics a subject that was considered a boys subject in my school,this made me so popular especially when i was promoted and made an assistant captain.The attention that i started getting was so overwhelming since all my life i felt so inferior and unnoticed that i let it run my system.

 

"Beauty and brains",that was my new found name,in a couple of weeks i started making friends in school and before i knew what was happening i was in a relationship because i really wanted to have the normal life of my age mates that i never had.I stopped concentrating in class and all my attention was on how i looked and the next clothes i will wear to some party with my boyfriend and friends.

 

Became so wild that i was withdrawn from being an assistant captain,was now performing so poorly i once had an E as the average grade and i did not care.We started missing school with my friends and suspensions became our cup of tea.By then i felt being rude and arrogant was amazing but looking back today i messed up a big deal.

 

In form four we were uncontrollable and so we were suspended for good although we still came back and sat for our national examinations.Grandma was fed up with taking me back to school after all the suspensions and so it got to a point she was not bothered why i am at home during school hours.I was so rude even to her because i was playing blame games asking why i had to have such a horrible life and telling me about God got me even furious.At some point i was actually an atheist,i despised anything Godly as i felt he brought me into a poor family on purpose for me to suffer.

 

Once i cleared from highschool i eloped from home,went ahead and lived with my friends,drugs and more drugs was the lifestyle for me.By then i was already a freelance model so at least i had some money to sustain myself,due to greed for money i started doing exotic photo shoots and this satisfied me as i felt i am on the way to being a successful socialite in the country which was my then major dream.

 

Time moved fast and sending my grandmother money made me feel like i had already made it in life.I know what you're thinking but after i came back home grandma explained why she used to take the money of which she was sure was dirty.

 

Events and concerts were the ultimate plan.We loved high end lifestyle with my friends but we couldn't keep up with it so we resulted to having men in our lives atleast to get us through the bills.As earlier said i was raised in the church so i knew everything i was doing was wrong and in order to cover the guilt eating up my conscience i went for hard drugs,i became such an addict that the minute i woke up i would go get alcohol from the fridge as i sniff crack and smoke marijuana.

 

One of my friend told me there was an opportunity and i was to go with her since i fit all the requirements,asked about the payment and due to my naive reasoning i never questioned her rather i felt blessed and lucky.I remember fantasizing of all the good things i would buy my grandmother and also get her out of that shack we called home for years.

 

Upon arrival in the apartment i was told to wait and that was the last time i laid eyes on my dear friend,the next thing i know is i was locked up in a room all alone my head covered in a sack like clothing my hands tied behind my back.This is when it hit me that i was in trouble and to date i can't tell how they got me into the room because i don't remember taking anything in that place so i can't really say if i got drugged or something like that.

 

Scared is an understatement because i had no idea what these people wanted from me but one way or another i kept my cool and waited to be met by my fate which was unknown to me.After a while which was like eternity for me someone came and i was fed this automatically assured me that these people wanted me alive.At first i was waiting to choke and die as a result of food poisoning but it went on and on for days and i was completely okay.A woman came for the first time and although i didn't see her because of the sack clothing on my head i could tell i knew her from somewhere as she sounded so familiar.

 

"Your visa will be worked on in a week's time and you will be taken to Malaysia and fetch us money as a stripper else we will destroy everything you hold dear",these were her last words before leaving and the fear that gripped me by just thinking about grandma's life being in danger gave me the strength to hold on.

 

My stay there was two weeks unlike planned because i was to stay there for a week maximum then i will be trafficked but due to divine intervention because it has to have been divine my trafficking procedures always failed.The guy who used to come and feed me all this while had pity on me and offered to help me escape although at first i thought he was only bluffing.

 

Two weeks straight locked up,no natural light,no interaction whatsoever and now you're supposed to escape?..this has to be the most unreal thing i ever encountered but a human body will go to lengths you would never imagine all for survival.

 

He made it clear we might get killed if caught but again i will be free if we do a clean job.Scared and thirsty for freedom i decided to try my luck besides they would still kill me if they failed to traffic me out for the sake of their dirty business remaining anonymous.

 

Adrian came as usual to feed me because i was never given an opportunity to feed myself reasons unknown although i was untied and my head uncovered anytime i was eating.This is an illegal business so they don't work with camera footages as police could ambush them anytime and that would serve as an extremely strong evidence against them so that was an advantage to me.My saviour took cover as i got out of the room but to get out of the gate was the major task here.

 

The compound was filled with huge men in dark glasses and black tuxedos holding guns that the mere sight sent shivers down my spine.In a car trunk that is where i stayed for hours waiting for the compound to clear because Adrian told me most of the guards lay low at night for reasons i never cared to ask about.

 

The ignition was started and the car moved but I could not even dare make a slight sound as I was not sure who the driver was though I could tell it was just the driver in the car.

 

After some time of being driven to an unknown destination the car stopped and in a flash the trunk was wide open. I thought it was my end of the road only to see Adrian stretch his hand to me and for the first time in a long while I had hope of being reunited with my grandmother again.

 

He made it clear that he can not go back as his life is in danger but he will sort himself after he secures my safety.After a long walk into the bushes we came to a marram road where we boarded a bike and i was taken to some petrol station where Adrian gave me up to some other strangers and i thought i got played but my instincts were at peace so did not worry much since i felt safe.

 

The strangers took me into their car and drove away leaving Adrian behind and that was the last time i ever saw Adrian i really hope wherever he is he is safe and sound.The strangers took me to some house where i met other girls my age,was immediately taken to a room where i slept immediately because i was too exhausted and the following morning i was sermoned by the madam incharge and she explained that they were an anti human trafficking farm in Kenya and i was just rescued making me a survivor.

 

Traumatized, I was offered professional psychological help,taken to the hospital as I felt sick after two days. I guess my system was fed up and after a few weeks I got reunited with my grandmother.

 

Now this was a divine intervention and i swore to stick to God for giving me a second chance,cut off all my friends,cut off my old ways completely and work hard for anything i wanted in life because it turns out beauty is not a currency to pay your bills with like i once thought and greed can easily land you into an early grave.

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