Human traffic survivor tells her story

SHE survived years of rape and molestation at the hands of family members, drug addiction, jail, kidnapping, forced prostitution and finally robbery and gang rape.

But, Chanel (surname withheld) (26) says she overcame her past, forgave the unforgivable and now lives free.

‘I am not ashamed of what happened anymore. I tell my story, so others may know you can rebuild your life and be happy again.

‘I was molested and groomed for bigger things by a family member since I was six.

‘It started by playing with dolls and then ‘keeping a secret’.

‘I was first raped at nine years old.

‘My mom took me to the psychologist but the person who did it to me, went with, so I never said anything.

‘After my parents divorced, we moved from Richards Bay to Johannesburg, but the abuse continued, this time by another family member.

‘When I was 13, I finally told one friend and then my mom, who went to the police.

Acquitted

‘He was arrested, but I had been so severely and regularly abused by then, that I mixed up times, places and events in court, so he was acquitted.’

While the man she accused of rape went on with his life, Chanel ran back to her original home.

‘I had nowhere else to go.’

Her original rapist started trafficking her for income and after school, she was given a list of names on a daily basis, with what they had paid for.

She escaped again to Johannesburg, where she was quickly sucked into a life of serious crack addiction to dull the pain and trauma.

While visiting a friend in Hillbrow, four Nigerians burst into the room and stuffed her in a car.

‘I sat in a dark room with nothing but a mattress. It had a little gap under the door where they pushed things through.’

Three weeks of hell followed, when she was kept high and trafficked into prostitution.

Finally, her abductors sent her to the streets with a phone, confident she was fully enslaved to them through her addiction.

Rescued

As soon as she was out, she contacted one of her childhood tormentors, who went to the police.

‘It was the only number I could remember.’

Kempton Park, Edenvale and Booysens police stations and others partook in the sting operation, where she and other women were liberated.

‘That day, I forgave that man, because despite of what he did to me as a child, he rescued me.’

Still, the ordeal was not over, because the drugs had done their work.

‘I kept on using drugs, was convicted of theft and dealing in drugs and finally went to prison.’

One abusive relationship after the other followed, until she ran into a childhood friend.

They fell in love and she thought the tide had turned for her.

Robbed and raped

But, while sleeping in their apartment, they were overpowered by house robbers and she was raped.

The case made headlines and remains unsolved, despite one of them leaving his photo on her phone.

‘I struggle the most to come to terms with this.’

‘I am now engaged to a wonderful man who helped me to deal with the hurt and the heartache and I have been through inner healing with the help of family and friends.

‘I hope to one day tell my story to victims of human trafficking, rape and addiction, through the establishment of what I will call the Bell Foundation.

‘I will tell them, they are survivors.’

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