The woman (name supplied) pictured above shares her story of how she survived after being lured into foreign land by a friend.
I come from Chivamba in Zaka, Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe.
At the height of the country’s economic crisis in 2008, a friend of mine invited me to South Africa with the promise of securing a job for me.
Being a single mother of two, and faced with no prospect of any job, I decided to leave my children with my sister and cross the border to meet my friend.
When I arrived at Park Station in Johannesburg, my friend’s phone was switched off and I could not get in touch with her. I was stranded as I knew no one else except this friend of mine. I could not ask for help from strangers as I feared they would take advantage and hurt me.
I ended up sleeping at the station for some months, scavenging garbage bins for food scraps until some day I met a Zimbabwean lady who took me into her house and offered me a place to stay on condition that I would help her with her ‘job’.
The job, as it apparently turned out to be, was prostitution.
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I refused to join her and I was back in the streets for a while until I started crafting and selling reed mats.
Before long, I was back on my feet and I could afford rentals and other expenses. I was also able to send money to my children in Zimbabwe
I urge fellow Zimbabweans not to fall into the trap of promises of high paying jobs that may lead to human trafficking, smuggling or any other human rights violations. Things may not be well in our country, but please make sure you know what you are getting into before you cross the border because even the closest friends or relatives can trap you into the web of human trafficking.
