Trafficked girl forced to beg shares her story
“A man appeared and told me to come with them. I protested and I tried to run away, but he slapped me twice with such strength I felt dizzy. Also, he told me he would kill me if I refused to go. We boarded a public bus to the railway station. The man took me to Deva city and kept me in his house”, Luiza shares.
Luiza was forced to sell herself – as a beggar, everyday for four months. If her earnings fell short, she was forced to steal food from the local market. She was also raped by her captor.
“He locked me up in a room furnished with a bed, a table, one chair and basin. I received a long coat and a worn-out blouse to make me look like a needy person. Every morning I was forced to beg money, together with his little brother and guarded by his mother around Deva’s neighbourhoods”, Luiza says.
“I tried to escape once but he caught me and beat me very bad”, she recalls painfully.
“I thought all the time of my home, I missed my mother, I cried and I prayed to God to help me to escape”, Luiza shares.
Yet ironically, her difficult home-life and her desire to lead a different, more ‘normal’ life, led her to seek refuge on the park bench that fateful day. And, Luiza didn’t know about the risks of trafficking.
If her earnings fell short, she was forced to steal food from the local market Earlier in the day Luiza had visited Constanta city with her best friend Dana to meet with Luiza’s 17-year-old boyfriend.
“My mother and my brothers knew about my boyfriend”, says Luiza. “Dana returned back home, my boyfriend had left and I decided to stay in the park that night (to sleep on a park bench) because I was afraid to return home because of my father”, relates Luiza, who knew her father would be furious at her outing to the city.
Luiza couldn’t avoid her father at home. She is one of nine children in the family – with six children aged between one and 13 still living in their tiny one-room home. Both parents share single beds with their children because space is at a premium.
Her father works at odd jobs but his income is irregular. The family’s monthly income amounts to just 410 lei (US$150). In other words, there is just US$18.75 to spend on each of the eight family members per month. Not surprisingly, their daily diet consists of soup with potatoes and noodles.
But her busy household is not only poor – it is also characterised by domestic violence and distrust. Her father doesn’t like Luiza’s two best friends and so she has no one to confide in.
Even so, during her captivity in Deva, Luiza wanted nothing more than to return to her family.
One day, when Luiza was forced to steal food from a supermarket she made sure that a shop keeper caught her in the act. Her plan worked. The woman called the police. Luiza was subsequently released and her kidnaper was arrested.
Luiza is now receiving psychological support from the Child Protection Department in Constanta. World Vision covers the cost of transportation for Luiza and her mother to visit the psychologist.
“It is difficult to estimate the short and long term effects of trafficking on an individual – some experience phobias, depression and loss of self-respect and some face the social stigma of becoming a victim of trafficking”, says Marieta Caescu, psychologist and project coordinator for APSIPED in Constanta.
“Only a large supporting group (family, community, school) and psychological services can help victims of trafficking to recover and become restored”, she adds.
World Vision staff have worked hard to provide this much needed support. Social workers were alerted when Luiza disappeared and together with the Sponsorship Project coordinator pushed the police to search for her and monitor their progress. During this time, Luiza’s family received food, clothing, paint, hygienic products and poultry. A private donor gave them furniture for the house and the family also received money to purchase food and firewood to heat the house during winter.
And, since 2001, Luiza and her siblings have received nutritious food at the social canteen in Cumpana, supported by World Vision. Luiza took part in activities organised by World Vision at school and in the community centre and borrowed books from the public library, which had been donated by the organisation.
“I like geography and biology but my dream is to become a waitress because I like to serve people”, Luiza shares. Until then, she will go to school and will help her mother to take care of her younger brothers. But, mostly, she says, she will try to forget and move on from the pain of her experience.
“Don’t walk alone on the streets at night and never put your trust in strangers”, advises Luiza to girls in Romania and around the world. For those who have already experienced the trauma of trafficking she says, “Don’t lose your hope and keep going…”
...this case reinforces that the focus for traffickers is on money, not the form of exploitation “Luiza’s case challenges the trafficking stereotype. The misconception of trafficking always involving sexual exploitation, or requiring transportation across international borders is proven inaccurate.
Instead, this case reinforces that the focus for traffickers is on money, not the form of exploitation. Luiza’s story also shows the need to increase awareness that trafficking can affect anyone, even close to home”, says Matthew Stephens, World Vision’s Regional Anti-Trafficking Coordinator for the Middle East & Eastern Europe Region.
World Vision’s Anti-Trafficking project in Cumpana community aims to teach youth like Luiza about the risks of trafficking and how they can protect themselves. Almost 40 teenagers, teachers and parents from Community-Based-Organisations have already taken part in six training sessions and a total of 250 students will participate in the training.
The project will also identify teenagers who are at risk of being trafficked and will offer them vocational training, which aims to increase their skills and employment choices.
“It is necessary to implement such a project in Cumpana, because our commune is in the immediate neighbourhood of Constanta city and with the lure of the city, the temptation is high for the young people. We must explain, especially to students in seventh and eighth grade, the dangers of trafficking and to involve the parents in this initiative as they become capable of helping their own children”, says Mariana Gâju, the Mayor of Cumpana commune.
“The most vulnerable to trafficking are children from poor families, young people who dropped out of school, young women from rural areas and teenagers who have finished study at a vocational school”, adds Simona Zamfir, coordinator for the Anti-Trafficking project.
“Our community based efforts must break down the stigma surrounding survivors of trafficking, as care from families and communities are essential to successful reintegration. By providing opportunities for a better future, World Vision aims to enable survivors to move forward with hope”, adds Stephens.
According to the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons, some 343 people were identified as victims of trafficking in Romania during the first half of 2009. More than half of them were from rural areas.
*Not her real name.
Luiza was forced to sell herself – as a beggar, everyday for four months. If her earnings fell short, she was forced to steal food from the local market. She was also raped by her captor.
“He locked me up in a room furnished with a bed, a table, one chair and basin. I received a long coat and a worn-out blouse to make me look like a needy person. Every morning I was forced to beg money, together with his little brother and guarded by his mother around Deva’s neighbourhoods”, Luiza says.
“I tried to escape once but he caught me and beat me very bad”, she recalls painfully.
“I thought all the time of my home, I missed my mother, I cried and I prayed to God to help me to escape”, Luiza shares.
Yet ironically, her difficult home-life and her desire to lead a different, more ‘normal’ life, led her to seek refuge on the park bench that fateful day. And, Luiza didn’t know about the risks of trafficking.
If her earnings fell short, she was forced to steal food from the local market Earlier in the day Luiza had visited Constanta city with her best friend Dana to meet with Luiza’s 17-year-old boyfriend.
“My mother and my brothers knew about my boyfriend”, says Luiza. “Dana returned back home, my boyfriend had left and I decided to stay in the park that night (to sleep on a park bench) because I was afraid to return home because of my father”, relates Luiza, who knew her father would be furious at her outing to the city.
Luiza couldn’t avoid her father at home. She is one of nine children in the family – with six children aged between one and 13 still living in their tiny one-room home. Both parents share single beds with their children because space is at a premium.
Her father works at odd jobs but his income is irregular. The family’s monthly income amounts to just 410 lei (US$150). In other words, there is just US$18.75 to spend on each of the eight family members per month. Not surprisingly, their daily diet consists of soup with potatoes and noodles.
But her busy household is not only poor – it is also characterised by domestic violence and distrust. Her father doesn’t like Luiza’s two best friends and so she has no one to confide in.
Even so, during her captivity in Deva, Luiza wanted nothing more than to return to her family.
One day, when Luiza was forced to steal food from a supermarket she made sure that a shop keeper caught her in the act. Her plan worked. The woman called the police. Luiza was subsequently released and her kidnaper was arrested.
Luiza is now receiving psychological support from the Child Protection Department in Constanta. World Vision covers the cost of transportation for Luiza and her mother to visit the psychologist.
“It is difficult to estimate the short and long term effects of trafficking on an individual – some experience phobias, depression and loss of self-respect and some face the social stigma of becoming a victim of trafficking”, says Marieta Caescu, psychologist and project coordinator for APSIPED in Constanta.
“Only a large supporting group (family, community, school) and psychological services can help victims of trafficking to recover and become restored”, she adds.
World Vision staff have worked hard to provide this much needed support. Social workers were alerted when Luiza disappeared and together with the Sponsorship Project coordinator pushed the police to search for her and monitor their progress. During this time, Luiza’s family received food, clothing, paint, hygienic products and poultry. A private donor gave them furniture for the house and the family also received money to purchase food and firewood to heat the house during winter.
And, since 2001, Luiza and her siblings have received nutritious food at the social canteen in Cumpana, supported by World Vision. Luiza took part in activities organised by World Vision at school and in the community centre and borrowed books from the public library, which had been donated by the organisation.
“I like geography and biology but my dream is to become a waitress because I like to serve people”, Luiza shares. Until then, she will go to school and will help her mother to take care of her younger brothers. But, mostly, she says, she will try to forget and move on from the pain of her experience.
“Don’t walk alone on the streets at night and never put your trust in strangers”, advises Luiza to girls in Romania and around the world. For those who have already experienced the trauma of trafficking she says, “Don’t lose your hope and keep going…”
...this case reinforces that the focus for traffickers is on money, not the form of exploitation “Luiza’s case challenges the trafficking stereotype. The misconception of trafficking always involving sexual exploitation, or requiring transportation across international borders is proven inaccurate.
Instead, this case reinforces that the focus for traffickers is on money, not the form of exploitation. Luiza’s story also shows the need to increase awareness that trafficking can affect anyone, even close to home”, says Matthew Stephens, World Vision’s Regional Anti-Trafficking Coordinator for the Middle East & Eastern Europe Region.
World Vision’s Anti-Trafficking project in Cumpana community aims to teach youth like Luiza about the risks of trafficking and how they can protect themselves. Almost 40 teenagers, teachers and parents from Community-Based-Organisations have already taken part in six training sessions and a total of 250 students will participate in the training.
The project will also identify teenagers who are at risk of being trafficked and will offer them vocational training, which aims to increase their skills and employment choices.
“It is necessary to implement such a project in Cumpana, because our commune is in the immediate neighbourhood of Constanta city and with the lure of the city, the temptation is high for the young people. We must explain, especially to students in seventh and eighth grade, the dangers of trafficking and to involve the parents in this initiative as they become capable of helping their own children”, says Mariana Gâju, the Mayor of Cumpana commune.
“The most vulnerable to trafficking are children from poor families, young people who dropped out of school, young women from rural areas and teenagers who have finished study at a vocational school”, adds Simona Zamfir, coordinator for the Anti-Trafficking project.
“Our community based efforts must break down the stigma surrounding survivors of trafficking, as care from families and communities are essential to successful reintegration. By providing opportunities for a better future, World Vision aims to enable survivors to move forward with hope”, adds Stephens.
According to the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons, some 343 people were identified as victims of trafficking in Romania during the first half of 2009. More than half of them were from rural areas.
*Not her real name.
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