Interview with a survivor of sex trafficking in Kenya.

Image from- http://www.handicap-international.us/kenya - Great cause to help.

Good Evening this is Traveling Activist with your host Zachery Ramos and today’s topic Trouble in Africa. We all see the same commercials on t.v. saying, “Donate $1.00 a day could help save a child's life”. What we are not shown and won't air on a commercial is that these children die not only because of having no food but also being killed, sold into sex trafficking and, kidnapped to be forced to work on farms and mining compounds. Children should not be afraid to step outside their homes out of fear of being kidnapped. Today’s special guest is a fighter who survived having to go through these challenges.

Diana was born in Kenya, from a family of five and, had her childhood stolen away from her at age seven.

What was your childhood like before everything changed for you? Your family, home, what you can remember before your life changed.

“We only had a small hut on the outskirts of the village where mom raised my brother, two sisters and myself. Father passed do to a cut on his leg that got infected and we couldn't afford even the most basic of medical assistance to save him. After he passed mother tried to find a job with no success, no one wanted to hire a woman that can't write or read, and she grew a fear of not losing her own life but us losing ours”.

What did your mother do to try to help you and your siblings survive while facing the challenge of no work?

“... She, she would take us to the park and let us play for hours and hours….while she stood on the corner waiting for tourist who wanted a cheap trick to be pulled. The tourist, lying bastards, whenever they came were always looking for thrills or adventure. Mother would always tell us she loved us when she would come get us at the park, smelling of cigarette smoke and, at times covered in facial bruises”.

So your mother would just drop you and your siblings off at a park while she waited for men who wanted a good time. How did your siblings react?

“Brother was the oldest at 13 and left quickly...he hated our mother for who she had become after father's passing.  I was 7 and never liked what she did but she did it to keep us alive. The little ones were only 3 and 5 they had no idea what was going on. It was mainly brother and me who really witnessed the worse of her night outs having to find something to feed the little ones”.

Mother a street walker, a brother who left you all, two young siblings to care over and, then there is you. What happened to you that brought you to where you are at today?

“Me. My mother made a deal with the devil using my name for the contract. I was only seven years old, a seven-year-old should be playing house, I was sold to a tourist who said he just wanted someone to show him the country. Instead, he showed me a brown building where I would lose five years of my life to be some play thing. They used me, sold me, beat me til I couldn't stand and then filled me up with heroin so when the next customer came in I wouldn't be able to fight back but still be awake”.

WOW. Five years a sex slave for tourist to use when they felt the need to. What happened within those five years? From when they first made you work till when you managed to escape your captors?

“The first year was them telling me that if I even try to run away they'll kill me and, that wasn't to just scare us they would hurt you if you tried to get away. You are there property, you mean nothing to them, you're just dirt to them. Second & third year were filled with constant abuse, heroin forced into you and, becoming a 24/7 whore for tourist who just wants cheap toys. The fourth year was my worst, I was pregnant and, when you are pregnant here there is no doctor that comes in and takes it out for you. It was a metal hanger that they doused with alcohol and went into you to eventually pull out a torn apart fetus. After that happens you lose all self-respect and, all hope for freedom outside of those walls. The fifth-year everything changed us girls that were trapped there thanks to the men getting intoxicated and passing out with the keys to our cells in reach. We grabbed them and, ran as fast as we could and as far as we could away from our prison”.

After all of that, the drugs the abuse, you stayed in Kenya. Why stay when you could have fled to a country that was safer where you could have started a new?

“You never really start new. Just leaving one place to go to another in hopes of change isn't going to happen it is the actions you take to make that change. I decided to stay here because I am going to help make sure that other women don't have to suffer the same way I did in this country. Myself and others teach the girls how to defend themselves not only with their own hands but with objects near them. Also to travel in groups if possible to make others rethink trying to attack them. We are currently helping with transporting children to schools and home to make sure they are safe from those who would usually see that as the perfect opportunity to kidnap them”.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/enabling-a-population-one-woman-at-a-time-gender-reforms-in-kenya

I want to thank you greatly for agreeing to be on today, I know the audience at home is in shock learning of the tragic events that really are happening outside their houses. It is great to know there are people like you Diana who are truly trying to make a difference in making the world a better place and I am happy to have gotten to know you.  Now my question I want you all to think about after learning all of this is how can we stop sex trafficking in countries like this where even the government can't get ahold of keeping their citizens safe from being kidnapped? That's it for today's interview hope you all enjoyed and stay tuned for next week where are next guest is close to home. Your host Zachery Ramos signing off Traveling Activist good night, stay safe and keep being the change you want to see in the world.