A story of slave who fought for freedom With the 8th of February being the Memorial Day of St Bakhita – an African Saint who passed through slavery – there are some remarkable facts from her story that should be an inspiration to today’s survivors of modern slavery, activists who are trying to stop this crime and to everyone who upholds the value of freedom and human dignity. First – slavery is real! Bakhita died soon after the second World War – in 1947. It is a time when cinema was popular and everyone in Europe set about buying TV sets for their homes! Yet her story – a story of being exp ..read more

“We were expected to work for long hours. If you showed signs of weakness, they would threaten that they would give you up for organ harvesting”   …. recalled a survivor as she shared her experience with HAART Kenya Nairobi, on 31st of August, 2022 HAART received a call for help via social media and email: A relative informed us that his family member had been lured with false promises to work in Thailand but then had been trafficked to Laos, together with other Kenyans. The alarmed relative asked HAART to intervene in the rescue and repatriation of a group of Kenyans.  HAART reache ..read more

“My quest for a ‘better life’ made me a victim of trafficking At 40 years, I have seen it all having undergone trafficking abroad. As a single mom, my biggest drive is to always create a better life for my 2 school-going children and immediate family. Looking at how far I have come, I am truly grateful to be back home and able to run a business. But this has not been an easy journey. My rural home is in South Nyanza and I have lived there for the better part of my early life. Due to life difficulties and limited job opportunities, I decided to relocate to Nairobi county in search of greener ..read more

Trafficked as a child, she can today look back without distress My Grandma raised me in Kakamega. When I was in Primary School, she fell ill and could not provide for us anymore, so I went to Nairobi to look for a job. I went back every time I felt I had earned enough for my school fees and our basic needs. If I could give advice to a girl in Kakamega with a sick relative today, it would be: Hang on. Persevere. And if things get really tough, seek help from the police or the Children‘s department. Don’t trust a random person, because not everyone has good intentions. “I was promised 6000 Shil ..read more

I am a 48-year old Kenyan woman from Kilifi. I have a diploma in front office management but my original profession could not support my four children. The father of my children abandoned us and remarried, so I was their only option for a better future. In 2011, a close friend introduced me to a recruitment agency for domestic workers in Mombasa. That year I travelled to Saudi Arabia, where I worked for four years. In 2015, I went to Dubai and in 2016 I proceeded to Qatar to work there for two years before I escaped and returned to Kenya with the help of the Kenyan Embassy. My experiences were ..read more

My name is Vanessa and I am a single mother of one child living in Thika, Kiambu. After being in an abusive relationship, I chose to walk out and start a new life with my son. It wasn’t an easy journey.Soon, I was depending on well-wishers and my family for basic need support. A longtime friend reached out via facebook to offer me a job as a domestic worker in India. This was my chance to get financial freedom, so I prepared my documents and flew to India. I arrived safely and my employer welcomed me into her house. That was when I was informed that my friend recruited me as a prostitute to pa ..read more

I am a 34-year-old single mother of two girls from Eldoret. I used to work as a sex worker in a nightclub. In March 2018, I was approached by one of my clients, Kim. He promised me a well-paying job in South Africa as a residential apartment caretaker. I was excited to finally get out of sex work. I left Kenya in May. The journey by bus was cumbersome and when we boarded a cattle truck in Botswana to cross the border into South Africa, I realized that my Kim hadn’t arranged for a visa as promised. Upon my arrival, I was taken to a house where I was locked up for days until Kim came back and de ..read more

Before coming to Iraq, I was employed as a saleslady in a second-hand clothes shop. I was barely making enough money to make ends meet. I reached out to a church pastor who I later found out was a recruiting agent. He informed me of an amazing job opportunity in Iraq, working as a househelp in a private residence for a monthly salary of KES 40,000 (USD 370). In October 2019, I traveled to Basra, Iraq. I was taken to my employer’s house by an agent. Within a week, my employer took my passport and started physically abusing me. I sternly refused to continue working for him, so I was taken back t ..read more

I am Loise, a 17 year old girl from the Congo. In 2018 we had to migrate to Kenya, as my siblings who are living with albinism were receiving numerous death threats back at home. We were granted refugee status and settled in Nairobi. One day when I was walking on the street of our estate, a car stopped and I was pulled into the back door. I became unconscious. I woke up a couple of days later in a house in what I later learned was Ethiopia. A middle aged man from a group of scary looking men shouted at me: ‘You are ours now’. I did not know that this would become the longest three months ..read more

I am an artist, songwriter and performer. It was extremely difficult for me to make a living from my passion in Uganda. A friend mentioned there are lots of opportunities for performing abroad. She referred me to an agent who recommended Dubai as a starting point. I was thrilled that I was finally getting the opportunity to perform and earn a living for me and my ten-year-old son. I had to pay for my ticket, passport and visa and my agent helped acquire all the required documents for my travel. When I arrived in Dubai, I was received at the airport by two ladies who escorted me to an apart ..read more