Worse than a Nightmare
by Stella Enachii
Moldova has become the main supplier of women for international trafficking networks. Because of poor socioeconomic opportunities, more and more Moldovan women live with the hope of finding work abroad. Out of nowhere, "friends" appear and offer "help." Instead, they rob them of their lives and sell them into sex bondage. They are part of trafficking networks who channel women to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo and Italy, amongst others.
Stella, a former victim of trafficking assisted by IOM to return home, is now training to become a journalist. She recently spoke with Ecaterina (not her real name), a victim who is trying to forget the horrors of the past and start a new life.
"May God never grant us as much suffering as we can take," whispered Ecaterina when we were alone.
When I reached the village, she came out to meet us. In the house, the pleasant smell of zeama (a Moldovan specialty made with chicken and fresh noodles) filled the room. An old man emerged from the cellar with a jug of wine made from the grapes that grow only in the northern part of Moldova.
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Women in Moldova who bear the visible and invisible scars of their experiences as victims of trafficking
[Iurie Foca ©IOM 2003] |
Ecaterina's sisters and two other children made a place for us at the table on the verandah of the dilapidated family home.
Ecaterina began her story in a trembling voice: "After graduating I wanted to go abroad to earn money. At the age of 20, I finally managed to leave the village. A friend suggested I should first go to Italy. She said she had two aunts who were living
there. Nobody really tried to stop me, neither my parents,
with whom I regularly quarreled, nor my fiancé whom I
loved."
In the capital, Chisinau, her friend prepared all of the necessary documentation and bought a plane ticket for Istanbul. At the airport Ecaterina found out she would not be going to Italy but Turkey, where her friend convinced her that she would have a better-paid job.
Deception
In Istanbul she was left in a hotel with 20 other girls who had also fallen prey to the same trafficking network. Men regularly came to inspect the girls. "I cried and begged my owner on my hands and knees to let me return home, but he wouldn't even listen to me," recalls Ecaterina.
She eventually managed to escape with the help of a man who later helped her return home. During the three months she lived with his family, they fell in love. She never went out, as she knew her former proprietor would be looking for her.
One day, she ventured out to go shopping and never returned. Three men linked to the trafficking gang kidnapped her at gunpoint, and she was taken to an apartment on a seventh floor. This is where she experienced the most horrible night of her life. They beat her. She was pinned down as men burned her with cigarettes. She screamed, hoping somebody would hear her and call the police. But no one did.
After they had finished torturing her, they threw her off the balcony. "When I opened my eyes, I saw a pool of blood. I tried to move, but terrible pains stopped me. Then I noticed that I was speared on an iron fence. I tried to shout, but all I could manage were some wild howls."
A passerby saw her and called the police and an ambulance. They took her to a hospital with part of the fence still piercing her body.
Living in Fear
Some of the traffickers were later arrested, but she continued to live in fear. Her rescuer--now her new fiancé--paid for plastic surgery in Turkey. Then he took her to his home and took care of her, spending more than US$10,000 on medical fees.
She returned to Moldova, and after a year of suffering someone told her about IOM and its assistance to victims of trafficking. She went to an IOM-run rehabilitation center where she is receiving more medical treatment.
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A Romanian anti-trafficking poster--"Human beings don't have a price."
[©IOM] |
"Words are not enough to explain what I have gone through," says Ecaterina. "Before this happened, I wanted a beautiful life. I wanted to live in a luxurious house. Now I don't think of that anymore. I want my recovery to be successful. I want to get married with the man I love and who helped me through such difficult times. I am still terrified and very distant with people around me."
I have spoken to Ecaterina and to many others, victims like me. I suppose I should interview myself, but I can't. Some of the women know my story, so I don't have to explain it to them. We understand each other; we've lived through the same ordeal. I never blame the women. I blame the recruiters, the traffickers and the owners. Sometimes I hate them for what they did to me, but I don't want to think about the past. I can't live with this hate. I have a new life now. I want to start afresh and take each day as it comes. I don't dream anymore. I just live, one day at a
time.
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