A lady came to offer things, she asked my mum, ‘Don’t you want this or that?’ And my mum told her about me, that she was looking for a job for her daughter. ‘We’ll take her to Argentina,’ she told her. My mum didn’t understand, she thought Argentina was close. I said, ‘But I’m a minor’ and she said, ‘That doesn’t matter, I can get you across.’
They got me across [the border], they gave me a document. ‘Follow our rules or something will happen to your mum.’ They threatened me.
The name [on the documentation] was right, but the age was faked. I crossed in the guise of a 21 year old. Then everything started to change. I was forced to get up at 4am to go to work. I didn’t eat properly. Then I didn’t sleep. I was kept working until 2 or 3 am.
I was sewing in a sweatshop for six years. I couldn’t leave. I was beaten. I was tied up like a dog, chained. They fed me with animal food. And when it was cold they threw buckets of icy water on me. I was freezing.
They had all gone out to the central market and they left their keys behind. So I was in the bathroom and when I came out there was nobody. Then I grabbed the key, opened the door and I escaped.
[After she escaped, Jilda met her partner and had a baby]
He is the main reason I’m stronger now. My fears are not the same as before. Little by little I’m forgetting everything.
Narrative provided by Al Jazeera
