From Trapped to Triumphant: Cynthia’s Tale of Survival and Resilience

Cynthia was 15 years old when she came to Nairobi from her parents’ home in Uganda. Upon arrival at her aunt’s place, she met a man who assured her of a job in Mombasa with good pay. She says, “I left with this man to Mombasa; I didn’t even tell my aunt where I was going because I thought Mombasa was just nearby and I would return in the evening.” The job was an illusion. Cynthia became Musa’s prisoner as he would lock her up in the house when he left for work. She was threatened and sexually abused before she was able to run away.

“As I wandered in the street, I met a staff of Trace Kenya, who took me to the hospital for tests, then to the police station to record a statement, and finally to the shelter”. The case was launched at Tononoka Children’s Court for trafficking and defilement. Musa was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Cynthia is now 18 years old and is currently undertaking a dress-making life skill course.

Defying the Odds: Mulhath Juma’s Journey to Education Against All Challenges

Mulhath Juma completed class eight at Tumaini Primary School and excelled. She was ecstatic at the thought of joining Form One, but unfortunately, when she approached her father with the good news, he said, “I have no money to waste on a girl’s education, you must agree to get married”. She engaged in menial domestic work like washing clothes and fetching water for her neighbour as a source of income. She says, “I bought books and household necessities. I was unable to pay my school fees, and as a result, I had to study without taking any exams. One of my teachers told my mom that there are people who assist the children in their education. That’s how I met Eric, who connected me to trace Kenya.”. Mulhath is a beneficiary of the Africa Born in My Heart Project, who has ensured she continues to pursue her education.

Breaking Free: Melissa’s Courageous Escape from Forced Marriage to a Brighter Future

Melissa hails from Samburu, located near the coast region of Kenya. The 16-year-old ran away from home to escape retrogressive traditional and cultural practices because her father wanted to marry her off against her wish.” I hiked a truck along the busy Mombasa/Nairobi highway after managing to convince the driver that I was headed to Mombasa to visit a relative.” She got stranded upon arrival but a good Samaritan spotted her; an officer from Trace Kenya who promised to assist her.

After recording a statement at the Mvita Sub-County Children’s Department, “I was placed under Trace Kenya Shelter, where I received psychosocial support and security as the Directorate of Children’s Services sought an opportunity for me to further my education. Melissa is currently pursuing a course at a Catholic boarding institution in Samburu and Trace Kenya is paying her fees.

I Own My Future

Mary* a 14year old also known in the streets as Kababy was a hard-core tomboy. She dated a rich 20year old Tanzanian boy, who lived in Nyali Estate.

The man would give her money for upkeep in exchange of nothing. Despite her being taken good care of financially by the boyfriend her promiscuous tendencies pushed her to have many other boyfriends although she claimed that the rich boyfriend was the main guy.

She led a lavish lifestyle which compelled her to seek for entertainment in night clubs and that resulted to her being a social drinker and would chew khat/miraa. Again she made friends with all calibres’ of people and among her friends were lesbians who would hit on her on several occasions for sexual favours but she declined. For her to be a pro in sex, she would watch pornography with her cousin so as to be acquainted with sexual activity and that resulted to her being porn addict. This took her life down the drain as she finally resorted to sex work, she would spend a night with anyone regardless of age for money.

Mary* heard from one of our community mobilisers Phoebe about Trace Kenya and the girls’ project funded by Equality Now that was going on; a project that sought to help girls in sex work and sex trafficking to take a new leaf by engaging them through dance therapy. Her soul search prompted her to make a decision to join the team of other girls who were part of The Generosity for Girls Fund Project.

Mary* confessed that since her encounter with Trace Kenya, she has been able to fight her addictions by engaging herself in the dance therapy sessions they regularly have and the follow up visits from by the case worker has also pushed her out of sex work and she commends Trace Kenya for having bailed her out of life full of vanity. So far she quit a company of friends who were allegedly the bad influence into gang life, which made her to engage into deadly fist fights with anybody who tried to come her way, she managed to make 3 new friends amongst the girls who are part of the project. Mary* is so grateful for a sudden change of events in her life for she fears that she could be dead were it not for her decision to be part of the girls’ project by Trace Kenya.

The transformation to a responsible girl that she is now was faced with a lot of hard decisions and choices she had to make to be on the safe side. For instance, she progressively quit spending more time with her childhood friends who were a bad company and endeavored to be friends with other girls who were more responsible and of unquestionable character otherwise the peer pressure from her old friends would have led her to drug addiction.

Mary* is a very promising future actress and would like pursue her talent as a career. Through the counseling sessions she underwent, her confidence has been boosted and she feels that this is an opportunity for her to diversify and explore other theatre performance avenues and not just dancing.

Light at The End of The Tunnel

Jane* a 17year old girl, lives with her mother and sibling, a young boy in class five. The mother works as a domestic worker in Kambi ya moto Bombolulu

area in Mombasa County.She dropped out of school after her primary education because her father who was the breadwinner is deceased. The death of her father caused a lot of havoc and disunity in the family, so when she was 14years old after her primary education, Jane’s mother asked her to start working as a domestic worker in the community in order to supplement the daily food supplies in their household. She took care of the neighbor’s children, washed clothes for people and did odd jobs to cater for the family needs.

Months on, she got involved with the wrong company of friends who introduced her to sex work as an easier way of making money. She would go to night clubs, beaches and local guest houses in search of men who would offer money in exchange for sex. She was once invited to a party and felt out of place since all her friends were hooked up with boyfriends yet she had none. Later on, she was introduced to a man who took her to his house, had sex with her and gave her money. This was her first sexual encounter.

Jane* learned of Trace Kenya NGO an organization that works to counter trafficking in persons and modern day slavery through a friend who uses the in a community learning center (KICODEP) library services , she was willing to take part in the girls’ project and got an opportunity to interact with girls who have underwent through similar ordeal. In the girls’ project they had peer to peer group sessions, counselling sessions and dance sessions as a therapy of change. As a result of participation there was a lot of change: she totally became aware of herself as a girl from different advices and counselling sessions, she doesn’t party anymore rather does hair dressing within her locality, the hair dressing skill was acquired through apprenticeship from her aunt. She then perfected the skill by practicing it in school during games time. As time went on, she continued developing this skill at home until she got advised that it could become a way of generating money and took the advice seriously.

Jane has as well improved in time management herself and is now able to cater for her daily needs .In all this changes, she sees hair dressing as the best job she can do since she gets money, and she is busy hair dressing and therefore has no time to engage in sex work.

She is thankful to Trace Kenya for the change it has brought to her life. She would like to be supported financially to sponsor her training in Hairdressing to refine her skill and find a stall where she can open a salon and a legitimate income.