Antislavery Usable Past

Promise

2017 (Narrative date)

There are an estimated 136,000 people living on conditions of modern slavery un the United Kingdom (Global Slavery Index 2018). According to the 2017 annual figures provided by the National Crime Agency, 5, 145 potential victims of modern slavery were referred through the National Referral Mechanism in 2017, of whom 2,454 were female, 2688 were male and 3 were transgender, with 41% of all referrals being children at the time of exploitation. People are subjected to slavery in the UK in the form of domestic servitude, labour exploitation, organ harvesting and sexual exploitation, with the largest number of potential victims originating from Albania, China, Vietnam and Nigeria. This data however does not consider the unknown numbers of victims that are not reported.

Promise grew up in Nigeria. When she was 17 years old, she was caught having sexual relations with another girl. She, along with her partner, were dragged outside and beaten. Her partner did not survive. After two days a friend helped her escape and she ran to her aunt’s house for help. Promise was told to meet a family friend in Port Harcourt. She was flown to the UK and upon arrival was stopped and held by immigration. As she was underage she was placed in foster care. However, Promise ran away to meet the man her aunt had told her would be able to help her achieve her dream of becoming a footballer. However Promise had no idea that her aunt had sold her into prostitution.

If the man says he wants it without condom, you have to do it. You don’t have any choice. If the ma decides that he wants to fuck you in the mouth. You have to open your mouth for them to do it. You don’t have a choice.

LGBT people are not allowed there. They see them as a witchcraft. I was meant to be sacrificed to the Gods. To appease them for the crime I did for loving a girl.

I never knew I was actually walking in to more serious debt. He told me he was going to give men a good education and make me a footballer. Because that was my dream.

He just woke me up and told me, it’s time to pay me back the money I used to bring you this country. When he actually took me to… I didn’t even know what prostitution is or what sex slavery is. And then this woman came to me and told me some guys wanted me in the room. They were just naked staying at me like ‘Come on I paid for it, come lie down.’ He didn’t even pay attention to me, he just lay me on the bed. One told me to suck him off, the other one told me ‘bring your back’. I was just like a pornstar.

They don’t care if the man has diseases, the more they come, the more you have to take them. And if you don’t take them, you wouldn’t even want to think about the beating that you’re going to receive so you just have to take the men.

It’s endless, the number of men are endless.

It was so horrible that I begged for death. They won’t let you go even if you finish the payment, they will never let you go. But if you’ve got the courage you just have to, try to run. But if you are caught, that is it. That is the end of your life and all that.

Narrative provided by UniLad

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sexual violence

VOICES: Narratives by Survivors of Modern Slavery

This is the world's largest archive of modern slavery survivor narratives. Across more than a million words spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, we can see why slavery persists in particular hotspots, analyse patterns in trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities, understand more about the challenges survivors face in liberation, and discover new antislavery solutions. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves.

The database is searchable by country, name, theme, and narrative date. Narratives can be viewed in list or map form. A short introduction provides context to each narrative. Narrative provenance appears after the main narrative text.

For ideas on how to use this database, please see our accompanying guide.

Project Lead: Zoe Trodd. Team Members: Andrea Nicholson, Lauren Eglen, Rosemary Pearce, Olivia Wright.

Project Funders: AHRC Antislavery Usable Past grant (2014-19), ESRC/AHRC PaCCS Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement grant (2016-19), and AHRC-GCRF Antislavery Knowledge Network grant (2017-2021).

For any queries about the collection please contact: rightslab@nottingham.ac.uk. If you wish to cite a particular narrative, please acknowledge the survivor’s name, the provenance of the narrative and cite: Voices Database, the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.

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