Not For Sale: East Africa

I had the pleasure of meeting David Mwambari several years ago while attending a symposium on mediation and conflict resolution in Cape Town, South Africa. It was evident from the beginning that David had an infectious personality and an unbending heart for those who have had their voice silenced due to conflict, violent or otherwise.

It is with great joy that we welcome David to the Not For Sale team; taking on the role of regional director for East Africa.

Below is David’s account of an incident that occurred just two weeks ago involving a Rwandan trafficked into Kenya. Within the editorial (submitted for publication at Rwanda’s The New Times daily newspaper) David describes why there is such a grave need to raise awareness as a preventative measure in East Africa, particularly in David’s native Rwanda. He proposes the culturally and historically proven model of producing radio vignettes about the perils of trafficking in the region.

-Mark Wexler
Managing Director, Not for Sale Campaign

By: David Mwambari — East Africa Director, Not for Sale Campaign
No One is For Sale

In 1833 the British Parliament passed the historic Slavery Abolition Act, which guaranteed freedom to all the slaves in the British Empire. Across the ocean in 1865, as civil war came to an end in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed. Even as slavery continued, the enacted laws allowed the arm of law to prosecute those who were still slave owners. Many believe that slavery is a thing of the past, a relic induced by the noted laws, but this is simply and unfortunately untrue writes Professor David Batstone of University San Francisco. In his book, Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade and How We Can Fight It, Batstone, president of the Not for Sale Campaign, informs us that there are still 27 million people enslaved in our world today – more than at any point in history. He declares that in the United States alone there are about a hundred thousands slaves and notes that President George W. Bush, in a 2003 speech, stated that each year 800,000 to 900,000 hundred human beings are bought, sold in this growing global market.

As globalization facilitates unfettered international trade –and unmolested movement across borders– those with evil intent have also rediscovered this global business: the human slave trade. For industrialized countries, poor Asians, Mexicans and all other nationalities, are brought to work under hard labour in restaurants, on farms, construction sites, and thrust into the commercial sex industry. They are enslaved through unmanageable (and illegal) debt, coercion, beatings, rape, and threats. All of this is meant to heighten the fear and stave off any thoughts of escape or calls for help. The people come from all categories, women, men, and half are children.

To bring the point closer to home, in the Southern Sudan, the slave trade is alive and well. Here it assumes a different kind mould; it is less sophisticated given the environment of post conflict areas and extreme poverty. Young men are bought from their families either given to rebel groups, or to Arabs from the North. They are forced into hard labour, tortured, exposed to hard labour that can even lead to death especially when involved in war a young age. Cases of child soldiers in Northern Uganda highlight these operations even further. In Chad, the world watched in disbelief as the so called aid workers’ plans to export up to 100 children were halted. The case was so serious that it required the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to travel to Chad immediately and save these ‘good Samaritans’ from shame. In this Noah’s Ark saga, no one considered the fate of these innocent toddlers separated from their families with promises a heavenly life in their new homes in France.

Even closer to home Rwandans are being traded as a commodity in the East African marketplace and beyond. Kaneza Joseline (not her real name) recounts how her ordeal started. She was serving lunch in a busy Kigali restaurant where she was employed, when some regular customers, a Kenyan man and woman, approached her about taking a better job in Kenya. In her broken Swahili she indulged in a conversation that would redirect her path over the next few weeks. They promised her $100 USD per month to work fewer hours as a chef in an undisclosed restaurant that they purportedly ran in Kenya.

After encouragement from her friends, Kaneza arrived in Nairobi to be welcomed by an unknown woman who had been given all of her information. She was immediately taken to a residential home, given work to wash their dogs, prepare children to go to school, cook for them, wash their cloths and other chores. All of which was the complete opposite of the job description originally reported to her by the couple in the Kigali restaurant.

The owners started inquiring about her family and hurling insults towards her ethnic identity. Kaneza called her friends in Kigali regularly, hoping that as soon as she had been paid the $100 USD she would find her way home soon. After several weeks Kaneza was informed that she would be sent up country to an undisclosed location where her “work would begin”. In her efforts to resist, she was beaten, tied up with rope, and repeatedly spat upon. What had began, as a promising new career opportunity had become enslavement. Kaneza feared for her life.

Due to the injuries inflicted upon her Kaneza was taken to a nearby health clinic. While there she pushed on towards her freedom and recounted the story to a nurse. She refused to leave with her captures and her owners fled the clinic when they realized they might be caught.

Without at doubt Kaneza was lucky. From the clinic she was able to call home to Rwanda and her friends were able arrange for a friend to locate her. The person was able to deliver her to the Rwandan Embassy in Nairobi, where she was assisted in her return to Rwanda. With her eyes swollen and new scars added to the existing ones from the machetes of the genocide, as she is the only member of her family to have escaped the horrors of 1994, she returned safely home.

Rwandans are fighting to exit the weight of dire poverty. This makes the people of Rwanda most vulnerable for this dark trade. Often Rwandan ladies are associated with remarkable natural beauty, which is an added value within this unfortunate human industry. Aroused by Hollywood movies and stories from friends in foreign lands fosters a naivety and lust within the youth of Rwanda to live abroad, which contributes to the needed psychological preparedness for the traders. Additionally, the environment of corruption in East Africa allows the brokers of human life to all to often go untouched.

There is urgency to warn Rwandans about this scourge. Rwandans have a tradition of listening to short radio dramas for both advertisement and entertainment. Furthermore, it is imperative that others are informed about this trade, especially youth forums to scrutinize these prospects from foreigners when approached and to report whichever they find suspicious. A clear message needs to be sent out to parents, school teachers, business investors, and tourists: that Rwandans are NOT FOR SALE and for that matter NO ONE SHOULD BE FOR SALE.

*Not For Sale needs $20,000 to produce and place radio vignettes to warn Rwandans about the dangers of human trafficking. Help by donating to Not For Sale. Help by donating to Not For Sale

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