I am Maria Goretti, a Sister of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth. I come from Poland but now I work as a translator in my Congregation here in Rome. I do not speak Italian well yet so please forgive me my mistakes. Our visits to CAS (Extraordinary Reception Center) are a recent experience, which we started as a group of Sisters last August 2nd. I wanted very much to do something helpful with regard to the problem of trafficking and I really found here the right place for me. It is nice to meet up halfway with the other Sisters every Friday afternoon, and all together go to these girls who are victims of violence or come from various difficult situations. Sisters with different charisms, Institutes with diverse purposes, different ethnic groups, languages and different colored habits. But we share the desire to do something concrete in order to be close to these girls. More than being a ministry to the girls, it is a lesson for me. I remember my imaginings about the ministry before I ...


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A LITHUANIAN STORY Aina, a fifteen year old Lithuanian girl, was offered a chance of education in Germany, by a male friend of her mother. She was told that she there could get money for study by washing dishes. Her single mother, a prudent woman, did not want her daughter to travel alone, so the friend invited her to come along too. He drove both to Germany, where he passed the mother on to another man, while he drove her daughter to Spain. There sexual exploitation awaited her…… The girl is now trying to forget her ordeal. We think that human trafficking prevention should be mandatory in schools. No boy or girl ever dreams of being a prostitute or of being exploited for labour. Preventative measures should be taken to insure young people are very sceptical towards what sounds as easy job opportunities in other countries. Story sent by Socialinė konsultantė LIthuania


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Lalani and her dream to study Lalani is a 16 year old girl who was attending high school in Melbourne. Her parents took her to their country of origin for a holiday. When they arrived Lalani discovered that preparations for her marriage were well under way. She didn’t want the wedding to take place but felt she had no choice but to comply. Lalani’s parents returned to Australia taking her passport with them. Lalani’s school friends in Australia had participated in education programmes on their legal rights and current legislation regarding forced marriages. Through facebook, they alerted her to the fact that forced marriage is a slavery-like practice and is illegal in Australia. They told her of a website that could assist her. Lalani was able to receive support through the website. She was assisted to obtain new Australian travel documents and an airline ticket back to Australia. Lalani did not return to live with her family. She told her NGO caseworker that she wanted to reconnect with some family members and was given mediation assistance to do so. Lalani ...


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Joyce, (not her real name) was a 16 year old girl from a village in Nigeria was an orphan. Her grandmother who took care of her, had a small shop and had difficulty in sending her to school. Her education continued only until the end of primary school. Then she did the housework and helped her grandmother in her small shop. One day she was approached by a lady who promised her a job in a restaurant in Burkina Faso. With this work she could help her grandmother and take care of her. She decided to embark on this adventure without informing the grandmother, because she was certain that she would not give permission. After a perilous journey, without documents, Joyce arrived in Burkina Faso. The lady put her in a house with other girls and, after one night’s rest from the trip, gave her an extravagant dress an asked her to follow her on the sidewalk for prostitution. Joyce refused, fought and refused to eat. Eventually she had to give in, and pretend to agree. Sometimes she rebelled and ...


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