“Saudi Arabia!” My heart pounded… “What was she doing there? Prostitution?” My heart raced as I dreaded opening the video. I knew whatever it was, it must have been heart wrenching as Favour was sobbing profusely at a corner…. Did this happen to Mercy because of me? Did Tina send Mercy to Saudi Arabia in other to hurt Favour for delivering from the SCA? I went far away from the noise in other to hear the sound of the video…I clicked the play button. Mercy had lost serious weight, her eyes were swollen. She obviously had been crying…She was sobbing as she spoke… “Hello mummy… I just saw the video while cooking for my bosses, and I couldn’t help but break down in tears, I had to rush in here to send this video to you… Mum, I am in Saudi Arabia, I was tricked down here. A friend of mine told me that I could live an independent life by going to Saudi Arabia to work in factories. She introduced me to an Aunty, by the name Aunty Tina, who showed me testimonies of people who had made a lot of money in a year. I wanted to tell you about it, but I knew you would shout at me. This my friend had told me about it when I resumed school but I told them I wasn’t interested, but when we had our fight I saw that as an opportunity to try it out. An agent took care of all my Travelling processes, they even volunteered to pay my registration fee for me, but mum, the night before leaving Nigeria, when I couldn’t turn back, I was told I was going to work as a housekeeper.. I mean a maid… Mummy… You don’t want to know what I am going through here… I cook and care for a family of 12, including their grandmother who poops on her body. I cook breakfast, lunch, dinner and each meal is like a buffet. I have to make appetizers, main dishes and desserts at every meal… I clean the whole house that looks like a mansion. I mean mummy, I clean 9 rooms every day. I also wash cloths….Mum, I shouldn’t have left home… I know I am wasting away…” She breaks down crying “They treat me like an animal, The only person that treats me like a human being is one of their grandchildren who is a teenager like me…” She is still in tears “And mummy, I have disappointed you, I have disappointed people like Ajaara and Kenneth. My virginity has been taken away from me, I am no longer 100%. My boss’s son comes back home every afternoon to rape me and I dare not talk, because we have been warned by the agent that we dare not make noise about such things when it happens… Mum, I wish I could come home right away…, but I am on a two years contract, which I have only spent 3 weeks…I shouldn’t have left home… I shouldn’t have… “Mercy, “Someone called her name and spoke in Arabic… “Mummy, bye, please pray for me… Another thing is I can’t speak Arabic, and they mostly speak that… it is the teenage girl that mostly interprets to me in English… Bye “ The video stopped and I also felt my legs were too weak to carry my body… Mercy was gone!, One wrong move of rebellion had taken her far away into physical and sexual slavery. Favour’s tears could not be controlled… That day had a bitter sweet feeling! To be continued
