Slavery here, now, in the U.S.

This is the story of a 24 year old girl who told her story recently to a group of Cottonwood young people. I have not included her name or other details because she was rescued from slavery by the FBI and is still in hiding while the traffickers are being investigated.

About a year ago, this girl saw an advertisement for a nanny. She had worked as a nanny before and was interested in working in a new city. The ad seamed legitimate and she applied for the job, went through the interview process, and was hired. She flew to New York City, where she was picked up at the airport by a man and a woman with a child. The woman and child had to be at an event, and were dropped off. She continued alone with the man, who gave her some food laced with drugs. That began her ordeal of enslavement. During the next eight months, the girl was drugged continuously and forced to have sex with up to 20 men per day. She was moved from city to city. She never knew where she was because of the drugs. After 8 months of this terrible abuse, she was finally rescued by the FBI. For some months, she was not able to contact her family for security reasons. She has been cared for by a Christian organization that has helped her to recover from the drug addiction resulting from the drugs her captors kept her on, and to recover her life. She continues to feel violated and fearful. She shared that she does not expect to ever be married because no man would want her now. Although she is no longer enslavedher life has been devastated. She has been able to contact her family and let them know that she is alive and safe, but the FBI is still working on the case, so she lives a secret life.
We are not unware of human trafficking and modern day slavery, but we may tend to see this as a problem far away from us. One woman's story really makes the problem real to us and shows us that any of our daughters could be at risk.