A
young Nigerian prostitute in Russia who identified herself as Blessing,
has narrated how she was beaten by Russian clients to force her to have
sex with them.
In her moving story published on the internet by a
Russian photographer, Tatiana Egorova, to draw world attention to the
plight of Nigerian prostitutes in Russia, Blessing disclosed that she
was always beaten anytime she refused to have sex with a client by her
pimp.
Narrating how she was forced into prostitution in Russia,
Blessing, 23, who spent two years in Russia as a prostitute, disclosed
that she was deceived by her best friend who took her to Russia on a
promise of securing a good job.
“I had to leave school as my
family is very poor. My father works as a driver, and my mother sells in
the market. I put my braiding skills to practice to earn some money,
but I still wanted to get an education.
“My best friend told me
about an opportunity to study for free in Russia. However, when I
arrived, my friend sold me to a Russian woman and her Nigerian
companion. They used to beat me and leave me outside without clothes to
freeze when I refused to serve clients.
“I even begged my clients
to help me, but they did nothing. When my father found out about my sex
slavery in Russia, he said I should blame myself for becoming a
prostitute,” Blessing said.
Through
Egorova’s help, Blessing was able to get a new passport at the Federal
Migration Service after she agreed to be deported to Nigeria.
“I’m
afraid to come back home as my pimp called my mother and said I owed
them a lot of money,” Blessing disclosed several days before she came
back to Nigeria.
Blessing who is now in Nigeria said she would
rather die than becoming a prostitute again. “You never know what a
client would do to you. He could beat, torture, throw you down the
stairs or even kill, and you would never see your family again,” the
rescued former prostitute added.
Investigations revealed that
Blessing and other Nigerian girls practicing prostitution in Russia were
tricked into the country by friends, relatives and agents of Nigerian
pimps in Russia.
Blessing and three other Nigerian girls who
travelled to Russia to either study or work to earn money to support
their families back home but forced into prostitution in Russia were
part of a photo project of Egorova about victims of huuman trafficking
in Russia.
The girls were rescued by a charity organization who
provided them accommodation in a dormitory and paid for their new
passports.
The organisation revealed that the majority of
Nigerians who unwillingly become prostitutes in Russia don’t understand
local language and afraid to go to the police, adding that the only way
for them to survive is to submit and do the biddings of their pimps.
—Culled from Naij.com
