Country
Modern slavery in Kenya
3 documented cases recorded in Kenya, 2008–2011. Locations are deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
Kenya, Kenya
Yes, Law Enforcement was involved. Mutei was taken into custody where he pleaded guilt to both charges of abduction and human trafficking. He was sentenced to 17 years in jail and a $50,000 fine.
Mombasa, Kenya, Kenya
Has there been any intervention? How & by whom? Thirteen girls between the ages of 10 and 16 were found abandoned at a bus station in Mombasa, Kenya. They claimed to be waiting for someone who was supposed to collect them – but no one had come. It has since been uncovered that the girls were victims of human trafficking, tricked and lured from their homes in Tanzania to go to Kenya for better job opportunities. The woman who had accompanied them fled and left the girls at the station after it became apparent that the police had discovered what was happening.
Nairobi, Kenya, Kenya
Kaneza Joseline (not her real name) recounts how her ordeal started. She was serving lunch in a busy Kigali restaurant where she was employed, when some regular customers, a Kenyan man and woman, approached her about taking a better job in Kenya. In her broken Swahili she indulged in a conversation that would redirect her path over the next few weeks. They promised her $100 USD per month to work fewer hours as a chef in an undisclosed restaurant that they purportedly ran in Kenya. After encouragement from her friends, Kaneza arrived in Nairobi to be welcomed by an unknown woman who had been given all of her information. She was immediately taken to a residential home, given work to wash their dogs, prepare children to go to school, cook for them, wash their cloths and other chores. All of which was the complete opposite of the job description originally reported to her by the couple in the Kigali restaurant. The owners started inquiring about her family and hurling insults towards her ethnic identity. Kaneza called her friends in Kigali regularly, hoping that as soon as she had been paid the $100 USD she would find her way home soon. After several weeks Kaneza was informed that she would be sent up country to an undisclosed location where her “work would begin”. In her efforts to resist, she was beaten, tied up with rope, and repeatedly spat upon. What had began, as a promising new career opportunity had become enslavement. Kaneza feared for her life.