Case Studies
The following narratives are true stories of trafficked and exploited children. They are taken from different sources as cited below each story.
Qujen was taken by her mother to a brothel fronting as a small café when she was 13 years old. Here she was expected to provide services for up to nine men a day. She says “I felt like a wilted flower or a dead butterfly.”
She was rescued by IJM (International Justice Mission) staff and taken to a place of safety and after assessment, transferred to Hagar Aftercare. Here she feels safe and accepted amongst her new friends and caring staff. Qujen has not let her terrible experience affect her compassionate nature. While Qujen stood in court only a few meters from the two traffickers on trial, her main concern at the time was for the traffickers young son (5 years old) who was also in court. Qujen tells her counselor, “I feel so sorry for him, now he has no one to care for him!”
Qujen is eager to learn and is a diligent student. Due to frequent power cuts Qujen is often seen studying by candlelight. She learns English, Vietnamese and computer skills along with the Khmer national curriculum. Her teacher comments, “Qujen is the top student in Grade 3. I feel she could cope with Grade 4. This is amazing progress for someone who has had no schooling up until she came to Aftercare.”
Her most recent drawing for her counselor depicts perfectly her healing and hope. “This is me,” she says, “a lotus flower growing in the muddy dirty waters of the pond and here is my dream … I want to work in an NGO.”
Story provided by our partner organization Hagar Cambodia.
Nora grew up in a middle-class family in Albania. She dreamed of going to university and becoming a nurse. But when a member of her family got ill and there were lots of medical bills to pay, Nora started work in a factory to help out. Life was still good until she got involved with a man who was part of a sex-trafficking network.
Nora was taken to Italy, France, Germany and then Sweden where she worked in the sex trade against her will. Aged 17, she ended up in Norway where her captors expected to earn over £30,000 a year by exploiting her. In spite of threats against her family, Nora courageously decided to tell the truth to the Norwegian authorities and testified against the traffickers. She is now taking refuge in an Albanian counseling centre.
Story provided by ecpat.org/uk.
Yusuf is from the Horn of Africa. When he was seven, he was adopted and for a while enjoyed living with his new family. But he couldn’t keep up with all the chores that his new mother wanted him to do. She accused Yusuf of stealing from her and they told Yusuf to leave.
Yusuf became a street child and earned money running errands. When he was 13, he met a man who promised to help him get an education. The man said that Yusuf would have to live abroad for a short time, but would be able to come back. The man took Yusuf to London where he introduced Yusuf to a white man and said that this man would be Yusuf’s new father.
Yusuf stayed with the white man for more than a month, but the man started to abuse him. Yusuf managed to run away. Someone found him and took him to an organisation that could help him.
Story proved by ecpat.org/uk.
"When I was fourteen, a man came to my parents' house in Veracruz, Mexico and asked me if I was interested in making money in the United States. He said I could make many times as much money doing the same things that I was doing in Mexico. At the time, I was working in a hotel cleaning rooms and I also helped around my house by watching my brothers and sisters. He said I would be in good hands, and would meet many other Mexican girls who had taken advantage of this great opportunity. My parents didn't want me to go, but I persuaded them.
A week later, I was smuggled into the United States through Texas to Orlando, Florida. It was then the men told me that my employment would consist of having sex with men for money. I had never had sex before, and I had never imagined selling my body.
And so my nightmare began. Because I was a virgin, the men decided to initiate me by raping me again and again, to teach me how to have sex. Over the next three months, I was taken to a different trailer every 15 days. Every night I had to sleep in the same bed in which I had been forced to service customers all day.
I couldn't do anything to stop it. I wasn't allowed to go outside without a guard. Many of the bosses had guns. I was constantly afraid. One of the bosses carried me off to a hotel one night, where he raped me. I could do nothing to stop him.
Because I was so young, I was always in demand with the customers. It was awful. Although the men were supposed to wear condoms, some didn't, so eventually I became pregnant and was forced to have an abortion. They sent me back to the brothel almost immediately.
I cannot forget what has happened. I can't put it behind me. I find it nearly impossible to trust people. I still feel shame. I was a decent girl in Mexico. I used to go to church with my family. I only wish none of this had ever happened."
Testimony before US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 2000