My name is Cristina. I’m 15 and I come from Romania. I lived there, then went to England. I stayed with my little sisters and brother—I took care of them and was always with them at home. And then… one day, my mother married me off. A friend of hers came to our house and said that he wanted to marry me. When I heard this, I cried and did all kinds of things not to marry him. She said, ‘This is my decision and you have to just live by it’. My husband was 18. I was only 13 and I didn’t know how to do anything.
He was mean. He didn’t even know how to act with a girl of 15 or 14. He acted as if I was a woman of 20 or 30 or something like that. Then I went to Romania where they did my passport and stuff. After that, I went to Spain. I stole and he stayed home. I never wanted to steal but I had to because if I didn’t, he would hit me. Then he saw that stealing wasn’t working in Spain, so I left with him to Belgium. I thought what I was doing was wrong and I wanted to stop. Then the police arrested me. I got myself arrested on purpose [voluntarily] because if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here. They put me in a center and there, I started to live a normal life. When I still think about what happened, my heart really aches. I feel really sad.”
Cristina now lives in a youth shelter and is attending school in Belgium.
Narrative source Youth Underground, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing human trafficking through youth education, awareness-raising and advocacy.
Original narrative can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/YouthUnderground.CH/posts/3337751712926947
