From victim to champion: Francisca Awah’s fight against human trafficking

Francisca Awah carefully scours her 25-acre Cassava plantation in Cameroon’s East region, removing unwanted weeds and parasitic plants.

“Our country has all this fertile land,” says the committed Catholic with a broad smile. “Why did I have to travel out of the country in search of the so-called greener pasture?” That question draws from the horrible experience she had when she travelled to the Middle Eastern country of Kuwait in 2015.

Tricked and trafficked

“In 2012, I completed my master’s degree in Norway, specializing in human rights and multiculturalism,” she recounts to the Catholic World Report.

Upon her return to Cameroon, she would face the harsh reality of not being able to get a job.

“I was seen as a failure. My community viewed it as shameful to have studied in a prestigious country like Norway and then come back and fail to get a job,” she told CWR. Awah then turned to an agent who was helping people travel to Kuwait. The agent assured Awah that there was a teaching opportunity in Kuwait: she would be teaching the English language upon arrival in the Middle Eastern country.

“He assured me that I would earn a salary of $1,000, and that transportation from the accommodation site to the school would be provided. It seemed like a great opportunity to regain my family’s trust and give them the prestige of having someone who had lived abroad.”

“So, I decided to grab the opportunity. I paid him 700,000 francs. There was no formal contract. All I received was a visa. Everything on the document was in Arabic, except for my name, which I could recognize in English,” she told CWR.

In May 2015, Francisca Awah boarded a flight from Cameroon via Addis Ababa to Kuwait. It was on the flight that she got the first hints that she might have been trafficked.

“On the plane from Addis Ababa to Kuwait, I began to have doubts. Almost everyone on the flight was female and from West African countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Cameroon,” she recalls.

As she listened to their motivations for travelling, her apprehension grew: some would work as nurses, others in supermarkets, others as house help. That chilling effect crystallized when she got to the airport in Kuwait.

“Upon arriving at the airport, the immigration officers immediately treated us as though we were less than human. Our passports were seized from us right away. We were not allowed to sit on the chairs at the airport while waiting for our visa statuses to be cleared. Instead, we stood for about seven hours with no food, no water. Finally, after completing the immigration procedures, we went to retrieve our luggage. As I was picking up my bag, I heard a man call my name, ‘Francisca.’ I responded, ‘Yes, I’m here.’ He said, ‘Hurry up; we’ve been waiting for you for a long time.'”

The man ushered Awah to his car and introduced his family to her: his wife and two kids. “You are here to take care of these children, and you should not take this responsibility lightly,” he told me.

The teaching job she was promised in Cameroon did not exist. “I had to care for the children, sing them lullabies every night, feed them, and manage their clothing. This was all in addition to taking care of everything for the wife and the household.”

“When they ate, I was not allowed to share their food. I was instructed to prepare my own meals, “she told CWR.

“I worked tirelessly, as though there were no tomorrow,” she recalls.

“Even when the lady was on her period, she left everything for me to clean, including toiletries she had used.”

From bad to worse

It was only 17 days of work in that family that Awah thought she had reached breaking point. She requested to leave, and fortunately, she was taken to the agency that facilitated her travel in the first place.

That is how she was returned to the agency, where she met dozens of other girls from several other African countries.

“While sitting there, I noticed people would stand at the door and say things like ‘English’ or ‘Ghana.’ When they said ‘English,’ it meant they wanted a maid who spoke English. When they said ‘Ghana,’ it meant they wanted a maid from Ghana. It felt like a shopping mall with women sitting around, waiting to be sold.”

After some time, a family arrived and asked for ‘English.’ I was offered to them. I could hear them bargaining over me in Arabic.”

That is how Awah ended up in the hands of a Lebanese family—as a housemaid. She was treated even worse. She recalls an incident in which she requested her employer to pay her salary so she could use it to take care of her sick daughter back in Cameroon.

“She listened quietly and then replied, ‘Francisca,’ in a very calm tone. Her response touched me, and I turned to give her my full attention. She said, ‘Look at the television. So I turned to look at the large screen mounted on the wall. What she said next, I will never forget. She told me, ‘You are like that television. You are a commodity. I paid for you. I bought you. You are here to work.'”

“If you want to go back home, you need to repay my money and cover the cost of your flight,” she said. That was the moment I told myself, “This is the end of it.” So, I kept working.”

Things got worse when her employer’s wife travelled. Awah became a victim of sex abuse at the hands of the husband.

But, ironically, that meant she gained a bit of his trust, and that became her ticket to freedom.

“When I began yielding to the husband’s advances, he started to trust me, leaving the door unlocked when he went out. I used that to my advantage,” Awah recalls.

That is how she was able to escape to the Central African Embassy. Eventually, she got in touch with the Justice and Peace Commission of the archdiocese of Bamenda in Cameroon. The Church entity then contacted the National Human Trafficking Resource Center operated by Polaris in the US, as well as Freedom for All, still in the USA. Eventually, Freedom for All paid her flight ticket back to Cameroon.

A crisis on the rise

Awah’s story isn’t unique. Cameroon is both a source and a destination for victims of human trafficking. According to Isidore Lukong, deputy Diocesan coordinator of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Kumbo Diocese in Cameroon’s Northwest region, the ongoing separatist crisis in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon has worsened the situation.

“This crisis has caused widespread displacement, with countless people forced to flee their homes. Thousands of houses have been burned to the ground, and families have been tragically torn apart. According to UNICEF reports, an alarming 800,000 children are now out of school. This lack of education leaves them highly vulnerable to exploitation,” Lukong told CWR.

The crisis has also exacerbated poverty, further weakening communities’ ability to resist exploitation, and so a significant number of the displaced population is forced into conditions of servitude in other towns of the country.

Lukong said Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait, before 2016, were prized destinations for Cameroonians trafficked across borders. But when NGOs, the media, and civil authorities raised the alarm, the traffickers changed their tactics.

“Now, it is not just a question of trafficking people to Europe or the Middle East; many African nations such as Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leon are increasingly becoming destinations for trafficked Cameroonians,” he told CWR.

Across the globe, about 40.3 million people were trafficked in 2017, according to the International Labor Organization. Some estimates indicate that 25% of all trafficking crimes take place in Africa.

The joint International Organization for Migration, International Labor Organization, and Walk Free Foundation’s 2022 report estimated that 50 million people were victims of modern slavery in 2021. Out of these, about 27.6 million people were in situations of forced labor, and another 22 million people were in a forced marriage.

Lunkong said the crime syndicate in the $150 billion trade sometimes involves very powerful individuals, making justice for victims an increasingly tenuous issue.

Victims struggle to find justice

Even as the scourge of human trafficking worsens, justice is increasingly hard to find for the victims.

Kembo Takam Gatsing Hermine, Director of Human Rights and International Cooperation at the Cameroon Ministry of Justice, told CWR that she carried out a study that demonstrated that over the last ten years, only sixty cases of human trafficking made it to the courts in Cameroon.

The reasons are many, including the failure of victims to come forward, the high cost of engaging in legal procedures, and the fact that some of the cases involve powerful people in society. Of all 60 cases brought before the courts, none involved sexual abuse.

“I think the first reason for this is the silence [of the victims]. And the second is also fear of stigmatization, because if you are robbed of your property, you are most likely to go out and report. When you are faced with a case of sexual exploitation, I think the first thing you do is even to hide. So, working with victims to help them come forward and file complaints to the courts is an issue that should be taken care of,” Kembo told CWR.

Those who have been rescued from the grip of traffickers face a second dilemma: how do they move forward with their lives? Lukong said the Kumbo diocese has been working to help survivors return to normal lives.

“They need psychosocial support, “he said, and noted that the Church is currently constructing a rehabilitation center where the survivors could receive psychological support and skills enhancement programs that would help them “bounce back to life.”

“We have been collaborating with some mission hospitals like the Banso Baptist Hospital and the Catholic Hospital at Shisong to provide them with some medical assistance.”

In addition, some of them who went back to school got assistance from the Church, while some opted to start up with business.

“We assisted some of them financially,” Lukong said. “Interestingly enough, many of them are doing well.”

Survivor leads the charge against trafficking

Francisca Awah Mbuli is now a leading campaigner against human trafficking in Cameroon. She has created an NGO, Survivors Network Cameroon, not only to give voice to survivors, but also to tackle the root causes of human trafficking: poverty.

“When I returned [from Kuwait] with the first group of girls, we began visiting rural communities to raise awareness and share our stories with the people there,” Awah told CWR.

“Our stories were our most powerful tool. Sharing them has been one of my greatest assets in this fight. I take it very seriously.”

Recently, she moved to Cameroon’s East region to pursue agricultural initiatives. “We now manage a large cassava farm spanning over 20 acres. We’ve invested in farming equipment, cassava processing tools, and even our own transformer. So far, we’ve secured nearly CFA 21 million (about 35,000 USD) in funding. So the primary goal is to combat the scourge of trafficking and exploitation from its very roots by addressing the underlying causes. One of our main efforts is focused on alleviating poverty,” she explained.

‘Many women are becoming increasingly vulnerable. It’s not just about traveling abroad anymore. In times of crisis, you see many young girls fleeing their homes and seeking refuge with so-called ‘boyfriends,’ who are often predators in disguise. These individuals exploit them sexually, leaving them with babies and nothing to their name. That’s why empowering these women is crucial. If they find themselves living under someone else’s roof, they should still have the means to stand on their own,” she explained.

She said her NGO has established an economic empowerment center and a shelter, thanks to funding from the UN.

“We’re currently expanding this work to include about 20% of our activities in new areas. For example, we’ve set up a carpentry workshop in Bertoua, sponsored by the UN,” she said.

“We’re involved in a variety of initiatives, tackling a little bit of everything. The carpentry workshop is specifically for men because many men are vulnerable too, and that’s why 20% of our activities are now directed toward them. Men can also be victims of trafficking,” she said.

For her efforts, Awah has garnered awards and recognitions, including the Trafficking in Persons Hero for Cameroon in 2018. She was also part of the inaugural Obama Leaders program in 2018 and a proud Mo Ibrahim Fellow.

“I call the recognitions I’ve received ‘paparazzi’ moments because they simply acknowledge the efforts we’ve been making,” she said.

“Cameroon desperately needs more heroes in the fight against trafficking,” she noted.

“Life threw lemons at me—bitter, painful ones—but I picked them up and made something worthwhile. I’ve turned those bitter experiences into high-quality lemonade,” she concluded.