Caminhos de Liberdade

My name is Charlie and this is my story.

I grew up on a farm near a small town in Kansas, USA as a member of a well-to-do family with two parents and two siblings. I was involved in sports, school activities, music, and 4-H growing up, and my family took pride in my accomplishments. I soon graduated High School with high honors and moved away to college in nearby Manhattan, KS.

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My name is Mariana and this is my story.

I was born in Romania into a wealthy family and was the eldest of two sisters. My life changed when I was 13 years old. One day after I was taken by a group and raped, I felt excluded from everyone, from school, from my friends, and I became convinced that the only option for my life would be prostitution.

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My name is Samira and this is my story.

I got pregnant with my first child at a very young age. Like many other young mothers, I was left alone with my baby. 

I wanted to give my daughter a future and decided to embrace a journey to Tunisia. I knew that this could be a life-threatening journey; however, I knew that I had to do it for my daughter and myself.

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My name is Jenny and this is my story.

One day while visiting an aunt's house in Zimbabwe, I heard about a man who was hiring women to work in Kuwait, an Arab country on the Persian Gulf. The pay was to be $700 a month, so I decided to leave with fifteen other young women like me.

When we arrived, after many days of traveling, some people took our papers and explained that they would only give us $230 to work as maids.

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My name is Jessie and this is my story: 

After I finished my university studies, I started working in a chemical plant in Uganda. Unfortunately, I got sick because I developed an allergy to the materials we used in the factory and had to quit my job. Still, I was not discouraged and bought a small kiosk to sell food to passers-by in my neighborhood. Everything was going well, until one day, in the search for other possibilities for new income, I was deceived by an agency that offered me a job in the Middle East. I thought I had found a great opportunity, but I became a victim of domestic slavery.

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My name is Ani and this is my story:

When I was 19 years-old, my dream was to become a chef. But, at this time, I did not have the money to continue on with my gastronomy classes. I needed to figure out something quickly if I was going to be able to keep up my coursework. Then, I found what I thought was the perfect solution: a job offer on the internet to work at a restaurant with a great salary! The only thing the ad requested was for me to show up that same day so that I would not miss the opportunity.

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My name is Somchai and I am 40 years old, many of which were lived with my family in a shantytown in Thailand. My life has not been easy. I could no study because my parents were very poor, I had no papers, and I was - and still am - suffering from schizophrenia. I earned my living by collecting and selling waste.

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I come from a very poor Mexican family. I wanted to work to help my parents. So, although I was still a teenager, I gladly accepted the proposal that my sister-in-law made me to look after the children of one of her acquaintances in another city.

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My name is Myriam, I am 12 years old, and this is my story.

When I was younger, as expected in my community, I was arranged to be married. I was desperate to escape this fate and begged my mother to help me flee this forced lifestyle. She agreed to aid me in running away. But this path was the beginning of another nightmare. I was losing any support I did have, and leaving behind all forms of security I previously possessed.

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