Her heart beat faster than a throbbing drum. She kept counting the seconds thinking this was just a dream or a figment of her imagination. 'Diane!' the secretary called out. She jumped up startled looking at the secretary. She was tall, pretty and well-dressed. As she walked through the door, she pictured herself as a successful business mogul.
For two years after graduating with a bachelor's in Business Management, moving from one interview to the next, one dead end job after another Sandra Kalungi, knew this was her dream job. She was finally going to design clothes and travel to exotic places which had been her childhood dream ever since she could remember.
At least this is what the job agent from Smart Career path had promised her.
She was sure this was not a scum because they had quickly processed her travel documents. Also the agent had showed her a whole lot of documentation to reassure her that it was a legitimate business.
'My life will never be the same.' is all Sandra can say about the whole predicament. Sandra is one of the victims of the dangerous 'business' that is human trafficking. She sold all her property including a piece of land left for her by her late father and all her furniture in order for her to pursue a brighter future in Dubai which Sidney Kantu her job agent had promised her. She was to work for a design agency Al freed Designs as a personal assistant to one Amina Alfrid supposedly a well known designer in Dubai. She would have a chance to work her way up and possibly start her own design company one day.
When Sandra arrived in Dubai,she was quickly stripped of all her belongings and forced to work as a domestic maid for a large rich family. While there she worked 20hr long days where she did everything from washing clothes to cooking, looking after the children name it, she did it. She said it wouldn't have been so bad if her 'owners' had at least accorded her the least form of respect. She was regularly used as a personal punching bag for the whole family and raped on several occasions by the man of the house and his sons.
On many occasions she was caught and beaten up for trying to escape. Luckily for her one fateful morning she was able to jump over the gate in the night. She frantically flailed her arms trying to get a lift from people driving past.
Finally, a good Samaritan, a middle aged woman stopped and offered her a lift. With a little hesitation she jumped into the car and told the woman to drive fast. She had no idea where she was as for the past year she had been locked up like a caged animal.
After settling down, she narrated her whole ordeal to the woman. She was really touched and shed a few tears. She put her up for the night and the following morning took her to the Ugandan embassy. The officials there helped her to get back to Uganda.
However she says little is being done to reduce human trafficking and many times after the victims get back home they are forced to fend for themselves. In the six months since Sandra came back she considered taking her own life as she had to start life from scratch.
However she has put the past behind her and is trying to move forward. She has teamed up with a group of fellow human trafficking survivors and started a Non Governmental Organisation to fight against this vice and also help to rehabilitate and assist the victims as well
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