I was left in a position that I hadn’t dreamt of for seven years. I found myself in a position that I did not expect. I did not want to live in this situation anymore. I was tired of the beating. There are so many things that I want to do that I could not do. I did not have a voice to make an independent decision. I started thinking of leaving and asked myself would anyone believe my story? Will the authorities believe me? One day I woke up and it was like a spirit erected me to come out of there. I had had enough. I was locked in the house but on this occasion the door was unlocked so I just opened the door. I didn’t take anything, I just ran. And I kept looking back to see if anyone was chasing me. After a while, I started walking in the street and crying. I was met by a Christian women, one of the fake ones, the women asked me why I was crying and I told her my story. She then told me that if I approached the police they would take me back to my country. I became very scared and she said she would help me. She asked me to make a secret agreement with her to tell no one about my story and that she would help me so that I don’t go back to my country. She then took me to her house and instead of helping me, she used me to take care of her children, 2 boys that were 8 and 3 years old. I did all the washing, cooking and the cleaning, she didn’t allow me to go outside except to pick up the children from school. I worked all day, morning to night. I was too scared to tell anyone. It’s like a nightmare with no escape.
Narrative courtesy of AFRUCA (Africans Unite against Child Abuse). AFRUCA is registered charity that advocates for the rights and welfare of African children in the UK. It has developed out of African communities in the UK as a response to their realisation of the problems that African parents and their children face, along with the gaps that exist within the protection system for African children in the country.
