Maria
Maria came to Switzerland because her friend had invited her and promised to marry her. When she arrived, the disappointment was great, the “friend” was suddenly violent to her and marriage was out of the question. His intention with Mary soon became clear: sexual exploitation. Terrified, she asked him if he gave her the return ticket to Brazil, but he refused. She was able to escape and sought protection at the airport.
After three days wandering around, she found someone who could help her. A person took her to the Brazilian Consulate where she met a Projekt Resgate adviser. Immediately Projekt Resgate has taken measures, including the provision of a hotel room and of course a plane ticket for the return trip to Brazil.
Susan
It was 9 o’clock in the morning, the phone was ringing. On the phone was the desperate voice of a girl from the Dominican Republic: “take me out of here, please, take me out of here”. The young woman had come to Switzerland from Spain with the promise of a regular job, ending up in a brothel where there was no escape. She could specify the exact place where she was, and within a short time someone was there. She fled the house and could be taken to safety.
Cris
Cris, 18, was invited by a family to Italy with the false promise that she would be hired as a dog sitter.
After arriving at the new home, she was forced to work under slave-like conditions from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm. She had to do all the household chores: cook, clean, wash, and so on. When she asked for her to be taken to the airport to return to Brazil, the big surprise was that she had to pay off a € 5000 debt before she could return home. The next day they brought her sexy clothes, so that she could begin to work off her debt. On the other hand, she resisted, which aggravated her situation. She had no way of informing anyone as she was isolated, without a mobile phone, etc. After a month, she found an old computer in the house that worked, so she could e-mail her family to inform them about her situation and ask for help. The core anti-human trafficking group in Acre, Brazil, contacted the Italian police, who freed her and took her to the Nam house near Verona in Italy. A supervisor of Projekt Resgate was personally on site to look after her and organize her safe return journey.
Ellen
He told me that Swiss hate blacks and that we are not worth anything to Swiss people. So I was afraid of the people. I had to engage in heinous sexual practices with him. After a few months, he told me I needed to find a job because I had big debts with him for the wedding and to make a living. When he started beating me, I got scared and sought help in the neighbourhood. I was taken to the police station, where we had major communication problems. I was scared to death.
I was told I should not have washed off the blood from the beatings, because now it’s hard to prove that my husband beat me. In addition, he was suddenly nice to me again and convinced me to come back. I did not know what else to do. So, I went back. It got worse. I had to go to a brothel from Monday to Saturday. I had never done anything like this before and it was awful. I have so much hate in me, hatred for those men who came to me and betrayed their wives. Hatred for my husband, whom I loved at the same time.
He always promised to change, promising that things would get better, and I believed him again and again. And that’s exactly what I hate myself for. And I hated me for putting myself in this situation. I hated everything about me. Once I was able to return to Brazil to my family. Of course, I hid how bad I was in Switzerland, I did not want to go back. But he wrote quite often, he said how badly he missed me, that he was sorry and that would change.
He also wrote to my family, which encouraged me to go back. My daughter studied and therefore needed money. I could not raise any money for her in Brazil. I believed that it would be better this time. It was not. I hate myself for loving him and believing his promises again and again. How can an adult woman like me trust him?
