Khalil's Story

My name is Khalil African Kenyan girl, raised from a very humble and Christian family. There are six in our family, I being the fifth born child. I was born and brought up in a ghetto- Majengo in Thika Kenya and life there was a real struggle for everyone, not only my family. Surviving was the only thing we prayed for since we didn't know any other life. My parents toiled to make the ends meet and I thank God even though we were six in our family, we managed to finish high school. Sometimes we stayed home for two terms without attending school and the funny thing about everything was that we were still enrolled in the next classes. "Kumaliza shule tu ndio muhimu," we used to say, so at times we would go home for lunch and end up drinking water and going back to school on empty stomachs.

 

I dated this guy since I was in highschool and even after highschool. Mungai was his name. At the age 23 I got pregnant. We were blessed with  a bouncing baby boy. Even though we used to stay together under one roof, I can't call it marriage. Because we knew nothing about marriage, we only managed 3 years together of which was not easy. Mungai now Baba Naveen started drinking alcohol too much to a point that he was uncontrollable.He became violent and I had no option than to move out; by this time my son was 2years. I moved into a small single room which was small enough for two of us and at least it was peaceful. 

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But life was hard. I remember very well that it was a Thursday when I was coming from my son's school. I met this charming man, Charles, uncle to Alice Njoki who we grew up together so he was about my age mate. We chatted and told me about Alice and he gave me her number. The same day in the evening, I managed to communicate with Alice and told her I got her number from her uncle. We really chatted that evening until late since we had not talked to each other for a very long time. She told me about the "kuomoka" life she was living and gave me ideas on how she will help me get a job abroad. 

 

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Since life here was a real struggle I decided to give it a try and I was in for the  idea.  Without wasting time, Alice communicated with me the plans she had for me to join her there. I told her it was not financially sound to book a ticket to India where she was inviting me to join her. She even promised me that since I was her long time friend she would arrange for  me a flight ticket and visa since I had my passport. She gave me a mobile number to a lady named Ruth. “She will help you in getting the visa very fast” Ruth was also the one to get me the yellow fever card too; International Certificate of Vaccination. After getting all my things ready, we communicated with Alice and she  sent me a ticket through Email. I took the print out and contacted Ruth.

 

On the 15th of the same month I boarded an Air Arabia flight from Nairobi to Sharjah then Delhi. I arrived at Delhi airport at around 4:00 Am where Alice was waiting for me. Since it was my first time it was not easy for me but I managed myself to get myself out of the airport. Before exiting everyone was to fill some information on the destination and so I did as Alice had instructed me, little did I know was a wrong address. I spotted Alice and we hugged each other  and even tears of joy ran down my cheeks. It was also my first time to travel by Air, so happiness was running all over my blood because of this new experience. She helped me with my bag and directed me to the car  which she had come to pick me up in. Before getting to the car  she introduced me to  two Nigerian men and surprisingly , we went home together. Deep down I felt confused because I thought she was alone  and she had told me nothing about the guys. 

 

On our way   home I suspected something  was not okay.  I decided to calm down  and wait for what was going to happen and what Alice had planned for me. After a 45 minutes drive, we arrived at her place where I took a cold shower and ate fish which she had prepared for me. Without wasting time I went and slept in the room Alice had shown to me as mine. I felt tired because of the long journey and so sleepy. 

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Eventually, Alice came to wake me up and by this time it was already evening but I realized they had tampered with my phone. I confronted Alice and she told me they had  done away with my Safaricom Kenyan line  and inserted  Vodacom Indian line for easy communication for me. As I was going back to sleep,  Alice told me I was to have a meeting with one  of the Nigerian guys, whom she introduced me to as her fiance. I went ahead because I thought it was a welcoming speech but I was really shocked because of what came out of his mouth. He asked me to bring my traveling documents and my passport. I told him they were safe since I didn't know what was going on. He shouted at me and so I had to go for them and give him. He smiled and told me that I was to pay them 400rupee for helping me fly there.

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My body started shaking coz I knew everything was wrong. Immediately after the questions I received  a call from home. It was my mum and she wanted to know about my arrival I.told her it was okay and I could not hold my tears but I promised her Everything was going to be alright, she should not worry but pray for me as much as she could. I wiped my tears and went back to where we were having the meeting. He concluded by threatening me if I don't do as they say I will suffer the consequences. So I was forced into prostitution to pay the amount of money they had told me but deep down in my heart I prayed “I’m not gonna do this, God will have His  way and I'll go back home.

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I was told to prepare myself and start earning immediately. Alice took me to a bar  in the neighborhood  and the fiance remained back in the building. They called the place Kitchen where there were Nigerian men drinking and African ladies sitting and moving around waiting for the Nigerian men to choose them for the earnings. After sometime  a woman named Cassidy joined us and forced me to drink alcohol. I had no option  because I didn't know where I was exactly and they had my passport. After sometime one of the  unknown Nigerians chose me and Alice communicated with the guy and I was forced to go with him to his place which was also unknown to me. 

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When morning came, the Nigerian man contacted Alice who told him to book a taxi for me  to be dropped back and he told me to give Alice the money which he had been given  to me as my payment. The taxi driver dropped me at Alice's place where she came down and picked me up and we went back to the building where her “fiance” was. They both took the money. I was taken straight back to my room and I was locked inside. I went straight to bed and slept and when evening came and I was told to prepare myself for the same procedure once again. 

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This time, I refused and asked Alice about the job she had promised before I came there. I was told if I was not ready to work I should contact my family back at home to send the 400 rupee which was equivalent to four hundred thousand Kenyan money as a ransom to free me. I  told Alice that I could not get such an amount from home since she knew my financial background. But I told her to allow me to talk to them to see how much I could get at the maximum. I communicated with one of my friends who was a  businessman and he managed to communicate with one Indian man whom they worked with who communicated with the embassy, who in turn came and rescued me. But by bad luck  in the process of  being rescued I was pushed to the balcony and lost consciousness for 3 days. Lucky for me, I was helped by the embassy to get my medication until I was okay. 

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Since few people from home heard my story, one of my friends managed to reach HAART ORGANISATION and told them my story. They agreed to help me and I received a call that my traveling ticket was paid for by HAART where I received a call from Sophie Otiende  for confirmation. I was very happy  about everything and this is how I believed in miracles. Coming back home, the first person I saw at the airport was Sophie. She was an angel sent from heaven. I was finally reunited with my son, family and friends. I was very happy to get back home safe. 

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Thanks to HAART KENYA for bringing me back home, and even after coming back home  they have been taking care of me and my son. I went to therapy sessions for more than one year which was really helpful to me  and changed me for the better. They also helped me to start a small business selling mitumba, second hand clothes which I was running until this pandemic started and it was hard for me to continue with my business. HAART came in again and since April this year when things become hard again we started a project which has  been very beneficial to me. I came to meet a lot of friends who had similar experiences to mine, before that I didn't know anything about trafficking but atleast I am now more educated about it. 

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     Fear is the most complex emotion that all have to deal with in our everyday life. Thanks to John, my case worker  who helped me to face  my fears. He was and still always there for me. He reminds me that happiness is a direction and not  a place  and it depends on ourselves.

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