In Nigeria, women religious are rescuing and rehabilitating victims of human trafficking

By Valentine Benjamin

LAGOS, Nigeria (OSV News) – Nigeria has remained a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa for decades, with its citizens making up 6% of immigrants in Libya, where they are commonly trafficked in open markets, according to a 2021 report from the International Organization for Migration.

But a network of Catholic Sisters of St. Louis at the Bakhita Empowerment center, a safehouse in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, is determined to change this by providing shelter for survivors and conducting education campaigns to prevent others from becoming victims .

In the transit shelter, women and girls receive rehabilitation and guidance to get their lives back on track. The shelter is named after St. Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of human trafficking survivors. Josephine was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan at the age of 7, and brought to Italy by her last owner in 1885. Two years later, a judge ruled that because slavery was illegal in Italy, she had actually been free since 1885. She entered religious life and joined the Canossian Sisters, who intervened in court on her behalf.

The Catholic Sisters of St. Louis provide counseling, counseling and vocational training at the shelter to help human trafficking survivors reintegrate into society. They also conduct prevention and awareness campaigns to raise awareness about the causes of human traffickers. The shelter houses about 30 survivors who Sister Patricia Ebegbulem, project coordinator of the safe house, calls “treasures.”

She works with three other women religious who help not only with project management, but also with supervision, counseling, spiritual wellness, and medical interventions for survivors.

Sister Gertrude Elelegu told OSV News that the victims undergo counseling depending on the level of trauma they exhibit. “Some undergo special therapies outside the shelter, where they routinely meet with a therapist, especially if it is related to psychosis.”

“We also involve them in occupational therapy to help them regain their independence in all areas of their lives, especially with barriers that affect their emotional, social and physical needs. They are trained in making shoes, bags and beads…depending on what we have to learn at the time,” Sister Gertrude said.

After their rehabilitation and guidance program, the sisters place them under observation to examine their recovery. They offer a little more guidance in reuniting survivors with their families.

For those who are eager to return to school, the sisters work with their families to ensure they are properly enrolled in a school where they can receive the kind of education they deserve.

“Some of them will say they would like to learn some skills… tailoring, hairdressing, basic computing, catering and make-up. These are skills they can acquire in three months, or six months to a year, depending on their ability to learn quickly,” Sister Gertrude told OSV News.

“To achieve this, we work with artisans where they are enrolled in apprenticeships and with schools where they receive formal education,” Sister Gertrude added.

Joy Eze, whose name has been changed for her safety, is one of the survivors living at the shelter.

Now 18, she was trafficked to Ghana by her mother’s friend with a vague promise of a better life in 2019 and forced into prostitution in Accra, Ghana’s capital.

“Two other girls and I were crammed onto a bus. … I was separated from the girls two days after our arrival and was forced to either sleep with men for money in exchange or go out and fend for myself,” she said.

Eze begged the ‘madam’, her trafficker, not to force her into the commercial sex ring. But two months after living in appalling conditions, she gave in to the pressure.

In 2023, a Nigerian woman was accused of trafficking five girls from Nigeria to Ghana to engage in prostitution and was charged in the Accra court. She pleaded not guilty and was released on bail.

In 2022, Eze was enrolled in a private high school through a scholarship from an individual donor. But she couldn’t cope because of the trauma of rejection and persecution she suffered from her family members who refused to accept her.

Sister Gertrude explained that she is still traumatized “because her relatives, including the traditional head of her local community… rejected her despite our efforts to reintegrate her. So we decided to adopt her and take care of her baby too.”

Human trafficking is a global scourge that generates billions of dollars in profits, with more than 40 million people exploited and trafficked every year.

Sister Patricia, project manager of Bakhita Empowerment, told OSV News that everyone is right, “but it becomes a problem if it is not done correctly and according to the laws of the country of departure.”

She and other sisters not only help and pray for the victims, but also organize awareness and prevention campaigns in schools, churches and marketplaces.

Their efforts are supported by many groups, including an Italian organization called Slaves No More, the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Conrad Hilton Foundation, the Arise Foundation and the International Organization for Migration, as well as by individual donors.

Their work has received international recognition. Sister Patricia was honored with the Human Dignity Award for her lifelong commitment to tackling exploitation at the inaugural Sisters Anti-Trafficking Awards, or SATAs, held in London in October 2023.

“Stopping human trafficking is a tough task, but I won’t say it’s impossible,” Sister Patricia said in a video produced by Arise. “For with God nothing is impossible.”

The shelter has treated about 150 cases since Bakhita Empowerment opened in 2019, and their work is sometimes frustrated by funding issues. But Sister Patricia says it’s a ministry in which she and the sisters who work on her team are committed to helping girls who drift away from Christ regain their footing and provide opportunities to thrive in society.

Valentine Benjamin writes for OSV News from Lagos, Nigeria.