I was left 10 days at the airport without washing, without eating or sleeping properly. No one came to pick me up. I was terrified. After 10 days, Josna came with a Bangladeshi man. They took me to an office. There were many girls there from Bangladesh and from other countries. They were all young like me and beautiful. We were well fed. Bangladeshi men came and talked to us. After 15 days, I was sent to work in a house.
There were 6 Bangladeshi men from different districts in that house. They did not tell me anything about salary. When someone came, they presented me as the wife of one of them. I could not protest. They said the law is very strict and this was the only way I could stay. They said, give us your bank account number and we will send money directly to your family.
After 1 month, they showed me a letter supposedly from my husband. It said he had received 8,000 taka but I later found out it was not true. I had to work day and night. I had bought my misery from Josna and she had sold me to them. After 1 month, I ran away and the police picked me up. I stayed 25 days in jail. Josna freed me. I don't know how she did this. I was taken back to the agency. I was there for one week and taken to another employer for 3 months. There again, I got no salary. Because of this, I quarreled with the lady and went back to the agency. For one year, I was sent to different homes and worked on a daily basis. The agency took all my money. The employer paid for me but I received nothing. The agency people kept saying they would pay me after 3 months, after 6 months. I could not send any money home. I felt really depressed.
I told Josna one day: "You are using me, making money out of me. You have done nothing for me." Josna replied: "Fine, I will send you back to Bangladesh.
I said: "No. I spent a lot of money to come here, my relationship with my husband is not good, my father has given me my share of the inheritance, I cannot go back."
Josna sent me to work in the house of a police officer. He had two wives, one Saudi and one Irani. At this point, I accepted everything the master asked for. I was so afraid of experiencing again a situation like what I had known the first 1 year.
Narrative located in the report ‘Beyond Boundaries: A Critical Look at Women Labour Migration and the Trafficking Within’ by Thérèse Blanchet provided courtesy of The Child Protection Hub
