The statistic of 27 million slaves is just a number until you meet one of the victims. Cami Oprescu, Project Hannah’s Romanian Women of Hope producer, interviewed several girls who were sold as sex slaves.
Melike was only 10 when her parents broke up. She was 12 when she and her mother left Turkey and moved to Romania to live with her grandparents. When her mother went to work, Melike was mistreated by her cousin. Then, one day, he sexually abused her. He told her not to tell anyone or he would harm her more. Not long afterwards, he kidnapped Melike and sold her. She was kept tied to a bed. Men beat and raped her for two weeks.
“There were so many men,” she said. “I was only a child. I had never done the things they forced me to do. It was a nightmare. I hadn’t eaten in a long time. They were drugging me.”
Melike noticed there were other girls in the house. She could hear them crying. Then one day they took her to Bucharest and sold her to another brothel, where she was forced to service 20 men a night. A week later the police came and took Melike back to her mother.
Melike’s misery did not end. Her cousin started abusing her again. She did not tell her mother because she was frightened and ashamed, and didn’t think she would believe her. However, her mother noticed something was wrong and took Melike to a psychologist. They helped Melike find a safe place to live, and she was able attend school again.
Melike said, “We went to a church where there were many girls who were praying for me and I felt the touch of the Holy Spirit. I shall never forget that day and I would like to keep God in my heart just the way I found him on that day.”
