Sex trafficking survivor tells her story musically
Although she isn’t a trained singer, her song still has impact
KITCHENER — Timea Nagy was conned into coming to Canada in 1998 on the pretext of being offered a legitimate job but instead found herself living a nightmare, trafficked as a sex slave by the pimps who brought her here.
Nagy, who was born in Hungary, eventually escaped their clutches but as a free woman she was not satisfied with simply blending into life in Canada. Instead, she became one of Canada’s most outspoken and determined advocates for young women who find themselves in similar situations.
Despite everything she went through, Nagy remains hopeful. On Thursday, she will present a debut benefit concert “Journey to Freedom” at the Registry Theatre with guest speakers and artists including singer Amanda Kind.
At the core of the concert is the song “Life is Still Beautiful to Me,” a classic Hungari-
an song written by Gerendas Peter. The song was performed by acclaimed Hungarian singers Ferenc Demjen and Tamas Somlo and was always Nagy’s favourite.
“Because of the message of the song, my story is the song,” said Nagy who ran a nonprofit called Walk with Me from 2009 until 2015 when she closed it down because she struggled to raise money. She next launched Timea's Cause Inc., a social enterprise that works with victims of human trafficking across North America.
She has trained thousands of police officers and social service providers, spoken at dozens of conferences and is a go-to person for media, researchers or academics requiring insight into human trafficking.
After eight years, the Waterloo Region resident felt the message still wasn’t getting through as quickly and deeply as she hoped.
“Even if I was a team of 20, it wouldn’t be enough to reach people,” she said. “I went to Hungary and recorded the song.”
The song would be for a new awareness campaign. She was delighted to have so many musical heavyweights helping her, including music producer Balazs Ery who brought in the song’s creator, Gerendas, and singer/songwriter Gergo Dorozsmai. Together they wrote an English version and it became Nagy’s anthem.
“I haven’t sang in 27 years,” she said, noting that as a youth in Hungary she had been involved in the music scene but never in a professional capacity and she was not trained vocally.
When a musician friend insisted she perform her Canadian debut of the song at his Kingston concert earlier this year, Nagy admits she was terrified.
“He said ‘I’ve been listening to you for eight years and I’ve never been so moved,’” she recalled.
“He offered for me to sing at his concert.”
After everything she had already been through, this new challenge of singing on stage was simply another step on the road to healing for her and all the girls she has helped through her advocacy.
“We had to turn people away” at the door she said, remembering how those who couldn’t get a seat stood outside the church hoping to hear the concert.
The impact of “Life is Still Beautiful to Me” has surprised Nagy given that she isn’t a trained singer. Most of her singing was done in the lonely motel rooms as she tried to distract herself from what would happen when that door opened again, and again.
Nagy’s next project is her autobiography “Out of the Shadows,” set to be released in April by Random House. Writing the book has been “horrible,” she said, explaining that “you have to go back through the last 20 years.”
Still, she continues moving forward, delivering a message that needs to be heard.