My Best Friend Sold Me To A Pimp – 23-Year-Old Nigerian Speaks Up About Sex Slavery In Russia

A Nigerian young girl spent two years of her life serving customers in Russia as her best friend sold her to a pimp.We have previously published two other heart-breaking stories of Nigerian girls who went to Russia to either study there or to earn enough money to continue studies in Nigeria.
The girls took part in a photo project of Russian photographer Tatiana Egorova about victims of human trafficking. Blessing, 23, who also fell into the hands of a Russian gang said: “I had to leave school as my family is very poor. My father works as a driver, and my mother works at market. I put my braiding skills to practice to earn some money, but I still wanted to get an education.
“My best friend told me about an opportunity to study for free in Russia. However, when I arrived, my friend sold me to a Russian woman and her Nigerian companion. They used to beat me and leave outside without clothes to freeze when I refused to serve clients.”

“I even begged my clients to help me, but they did nothing. When my father found out about my sex slavery in Russia, he said I should blame myself for becoming a prostitute,” Blessing added.
After Blessing got new passport at the Federal Migration Service, she agreed to be deported from the country. “I’m afraid to come back home as my pimp called my mother and said I owned them a lot of money,” Blessing said several days before her departure to Nigeria.

Blessing and another Nigerian girl who were tricked into prostitution in Russia. Photo credit: Tatiana Egorova/Colta

Blessing admitted that she would choose to die instead of becoming a prostitute ever again. “You never know what a client would do to you. He could beat, torture, trow you down the stairs or even kill, and you would never see your family again,”Blessing said.
Blessing and three other Nigerian girls were rescued by a charity organization. The organization provided an accommodation in a dormitory and paid for girls’ new passports.
Majority of Nigerians who unwillingly become prostitutes in Russia don’t know local language and are afraid to go to the police. The only way for them to survive and don’t starve to death is to submit and do whatever their pimp orders.

Blessing receives her new passport and other documents to leave Russia