(Locations and other name details have been omitted for security reasons)
Ingumba was from a small village in Kenya. She was a bright, beautiful 7 year old girl that was always smiling. She loved her family deeply and often played with her brothers and school friends in her village. She loved to run and go to church and school with her friends.
She lived with her mother and 3 brothers and was very happy in her life. Her father died when she was 5 and her mother was the only means of support.
One day Ingumba’s aunt offered to look after her to ease the workload of her mother. Her Mother agreed to let the aunt look after her for a while. Some weeks later the aunt was contacted by a local child trafficker and he offered her £50 for the girl. The aunt didn’t really care for Ingumba and considered her to be a waste of money. The aunt agreed to sell her and allowed the trafficker to take the girl away with him to a foreign country with the promise of a better job and that they would make sure she sent money back to the aunt. Ingumba didn’t want to go, she just wanted to go back to her family and play with her friends, as most 7 year girls do. She already missed the cuddles from her 4 year old little brother.
Throughout the long journey Ingumba was very nervous, but even at the tender age of 7 years old she felt obliged that if she could possibly help her family and it meant she could raise some money for them, then it had to be a good thing to do, she was wondering what sort of job she could do as she was only 7 years old? On arrival at the destination the traffickers pushed her into a room and told her that her job was to allow customers to molest and touch her, she really didn’t know what this was and was very scared of this and would not do what they told her to do.
On her first day of ‘work’ the trafficker asked her again to let a strange man touch her, but she refused. He then took her into a back room and punched the 7 year old Ingumba hard in the face and shouted at her to go to work, Ingumba was cut and was bleeding from her mouth and crying, she was hurt and cried out and pleaded with them that she wanted to go home to her family but still refused to comply, the child trafficker told her that she was never ever going home and proceeded to stub out cigarettes onto her skin, this made her scream with pain and then he punched her in the face again, this really hurt her yet still she refused. Then the trafficker dragged her by her hair crying and resisting all the time into another room past a load of other young girls, who had seen all this before and many, many times, he pushed her inside the room and beat and forcibly raped her! Then another trafficker came in and also beat and raped her then another did exactly the same. They forced her into submission, to accept the life of pain and daily rapes and beatings.
From then on the frail 7 year old was forced to serve up to 20 customers a day, forcibly raped and beaten every day without relent! She prayed to God to rescue her every night and also cried herself to sleep every night! All she wanted was to go home to her family.
No one helped her; no one cared; no one gave a dam about her, she was in pain, alone and helpless and no one came to rescue her! She was unseen; unknown and unheard. She prayed every night; they could not stop her prayers! but she didn’t dare escape as she had heard stories that a young girl was beaten to death for trying to escape. She didn’t know what to do.
Ingumba served 7 years imprisoned in the dark rape room, only taking a break to eat, sleep and wash. She said she was raped all day and often in the evenings by unknown men.
One day when she was 14 years old, her prayers were answered, she was dramatically rescued by a front line worker of an anti-trafficking NGO. The Police stormed the building and the child traffickers were arrested and Ingumba and the children inside, some as young as 5 years old, were released from their lives of bondage and rape.
The reason why Ingumba was rescued was because someone in the area created an awareness about child trafficking and word got out that this building in Kenya was a hive for trafficked children! the front line workers informed the police and this now 14 year old Ingumba, along with 7 other young girls, was rescued.
Ingumba was initially frightened, but still very happy to escape from her imprisoned life of rape and misery. She had wanted to be a nurse when she was 7, but had her life and education taken from her. She was determined to catch up with things, but found some weeks after the rescue that she had contracted aids and unfortunately she died some months later. She did however get to see her mother and brothers one last time before she died. The NGO arranged this as it was her request. (Her aunt was imprisoned for her crime).
Since this rescue another child, imprisoned with Ingumba has died of aids and 2 others have since disappeared back into the system, but for the other 4 young girls, well, they are housed in a protective safe house catching up with their education and planning to go into teaching, law and nursing as professions.
This is a very sad, dramatic; yet true story and is almost the norm for a child trafficking victim and there are 1.2 million innocent child victims that are taken every year and most are imprisoned and raped in this same way! This is a very sad; yet typical case of child traffickers tearing an innocent young life apart and ruining what could have been a very beautiful life.
Ingumba was rescued because someone had created an awareness; someone had the child trafficking education to realise that the authorities must be informed.
The trade in children is an evil that cannot be allowed to continue...In Isaiah 1:17, God commands of us that we:
“...Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.” (New living translation)
In essence this means that we must be the voice for the children; that we must fight to defend our children!
...but will we?
This is a comment form General Schmitz,
"Likewise, for those of us who are in position to do something to combat human slavery, however small our contribution, neutrality is a sin."
(Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz, Department of Defence)
"AAI can teach you how to create awareness!"
Will YOU be that one person who creates that awareness...will YOU be that one person that steps forward in faith to help save a young child from abuse and rape...will YOU be the one that cares enough to fight for the safety of our young children?
"AAI can teach you how to educate people on the dangers of child trafficking and grooming!"
AAI cannot defeat this alone and we need YOU to care enough and to get involved, even if it is only for one day or one evening a month, whatever you can spare to help these children.
...YOU could be the one that helps rescue the next Ingumba!
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information on how you can be effective, within your area, in the lives of these children; Or check out our pages on how you can join us in the fight against child trafficking by becoming a volunteer.
