Stories of rebirth

“I worked in a chemical plant in Uganda. After I got sick from an allergy to the materials we used, I had to leave work. I bought a small kiosk to sell food to passers-by. Everything was fine, until I was cheated by an agency that offered me a job in the Middle East. I thought I had found a great opportunity, but instead found myself in domestic slavery. I worked tirelessly and received no food or compensation. I thought only of escaping from that terrible situation. During a first attempt to escape, I was raped by a taxi driver whom I had asked for help. But despair led me to flee again and fortunately the other taxi driver accompanied me to the embassy. It was the beginning of a new life: I arrived in a house of nuns who took care of me, giving me food, clothes, dignity. One day I asked the sisters about the possibility of returning home: I often thought of the happiness that I got from owning that small kiosk, just a few years before. The sisters helped me to obtain the documents and to make contact with my country of
origin. Today I live in Uganda and the nuns continue to help me in my path of work and social reintegration”. (TK Uganda).

Photo credit: Lisa Kristine