I have worked at Gateway for nearly five years. During that time I have worked on all the services including the Pregnancy Outreach Worker Service.
I remember a number of clients who it turned out had been trafficked into this country to be used as prostitutes. Two people in particular stand out in my mind. One was a young girl who had been trafficked from Africa. She was only 19 years old when we met her. She had left her country when she was 14 years old. Once she reached England she was forced to sleep with men every day. The men never used condoms and when she fell pregnant she found out she was HIV+. It was a really difficult time for her. It was a lot to get her head around.
This young woman had a Pregnancy Outreach Worker who was also African. She didn’t come from the same country but there was some common ground. They worked together and the young woman was given a flat to live in, the Pregnancy Outreach Worker carried on supporting her throughout her pregnancy and after the birth of her child.
Fortunately the baby was not HIV+ and mum and baby have gone on to live a happier life.
The other young woman was from China. She was a young teenager. When she got pregnant she was left at a Social Services office by the woman who was handling her. Because she was pregnant she was no longer any use to the sex traffickers.
She had been trafficked by Chinese mafia. She would not disclose anything about them or how she came to the country because she was concerned about her Grandmother who she had left behind. She was so worried about her Grandmother that she kept in touch with her traffickers by mobile and returned to them after the baby was born. That was the last we heard of her.
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