“Ewa’a has helped me feel safe again. I never thought I could ever feel safe again.”

Anita

Anita, a mother of three children, had hoped to provide a better life for her family when she moved to the UAE to work as a housemaid. Not long after she began working for the family, which had also employed another housemaid, she was befriended by her co-worker’s friend via WhatsApp. Anita was occasionally mistreated by her employer, so one day she confided in her new WhatsApp friend about her working conditions.

“[That friend] kept telling me that she could get me and my coworker a better job with a better family and we believed her.”

After much deliberation, one night, the pair ran away from their employer’s house and followed the instructions of their WhatsApp friend.

“She told us where to go and that she would send her friend to pick us up. Someone came along as she said and took us to our ‘new home’.”

At their new house, they found three other women also present and all of them were told that henceforth, they would all have to work as prostitutes.

“I told them I will never do this work,” Anita said, recalling that shocking moment. “A man there said ‘if you don’t want to work for us, you will work for someone else’.”

Anita was transferred to another emirate where she said four other women were also held against their will. Once again, she told the traffickers she would not work as a prostitute but they told her she had no choice.

Being the new ‘girl’ in the house made her the most in demand. On the first night at the new house, her captors brought four men to her room. The next night, there were nine men and so the nightmare continued.

Soon after, she made an attempt to escape but ended up in another trafficking ring. It turned out to be the silver lining.

In an attempt to win Anita’s trust and to get her to start seeing customers without her usual resistance, one of the traffickers gave her a mobile phone to call her family. At the first opportune moment, despite being terrified of being caught, Anita called the police and alerted them of her situation.

Following the police’s advice, she called a number she was given where she was told an undercover police officer would visit the house disguised as a customer to make contact with her. The undercover agent arrived, followed by a police raid on the premises.

Anita’s cooperation with the police led to arrests of other traffickers and the rescue of other women, including the housemaid she first ran away with.

She was taken to Ewa’a, Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking, in Abu Dhabi after her rescue.

Ewa’a confirmed that a man arrested at the house was one of the most wanted human traffickers in the country.

With Ewa’s help and support, Anita’s husband, who had previously been led to believe by Anita’s co-victim that Anita was a willing participant in the sex trade, has now come around to understand how his wife was trapped in circumstances.

Anita explains what happened. While in captivity, she had once borrowed a mobile phone from another victim to call her husband back home. Pressured by her situation, she had been unable to tell him the truth. When he did not hear from her again, he called the number after a few days and spoke to the co-victim who told him that his wife had been working as a prostitute in the country.

Now, the couple communicate regularly although Anita is still worried about their future.

With regular therapy, Anita has been making a slow recovery and is looking forward to going home. “I am very grateful for what Ewa’a has done for me. I feel safe again and they have even helped my family back home,” she said.

Anita was in captivity for over a month and has been at Ewa’a for over three months.