Veteran
actress, Joke Silva has shared her most heart breaking experience. It was the
day she met a 10 year-old prostitute while volunteering for her church, This
Present House.
The mother of three recounted her ordeal thus:
“Our church, This Present House, runs several shelters for drug addicts and
people who have been trafficked within and outside Nigeria; you will be
surprised what happens within Nigeria.
“We have 10 year old girls being sold into
prostitution. One was actually younger than 10. She had been trafficked and was
being molested. It was so heart rendering. We had to buy her from the
whorehouse because the madam who ran the whorehouse insisted the girl was a
client’s favourite. Can you imagine?”
However, the actress adds that there is hope
because some of the girls have been rescued from the streets courtesy of This
Present House and are thriving in rehabilitation. “Today, we have been able to
rehabilitate them in the shelter. They have developed their skills. Some are in
boarding schools and one is in the university. The bottom line is that with
just a little effort, things could be better,” she said.
UN Ambassador
Last year, against the growing global challenge
of trafficked persons and illegal immigration, Joke and rapper, MI were
appointed UN Peace Ambassadors. Consequently, she is bringing her wealth of
experience to bear. Now, she is collaborating with Osita Oseneme of Patriotic
Citizens Initiatives who was a victim of human trafficking. Osita has published
a book entitled, The Mirage, which chronicles his harrowing 91 days in the
largest desert in the world, the Sahara desert.
“The trafficking in persons and smuggling of
migrants has become a challenge worldwide. And the United Nations, aware of the
implications, decided to get goodwill ambassadors all over the world in order
to bring focus to the challenge,” Joke said, shedding more light on her UN
appointment.
Lamenting the scourge of human trafficking and
smuggling of migrants across borders Joke stated: “From Africa, MI and I were
appointed. MI is handling smuggling of migrants while I am handling trafficking
in persons and we work with organizations like NAPTIP. What happens is that
because people are looking for better opportunities and coupled with the belief
that outside their countries life will be better because of what they have seen
on TV, internet and magazines, they try to get out of their countries illegally
like in the case of Comrade Osememe who tried to leave the country but did not
make a headway because he was duped by touts who promised him greener pastures
in Europe. He barely escaped arrest at the airport when security operatives
narrowly missed arresting him. Then someone told him, ‘don’t worry, we can help
you get to Europe and thus began 91-days of horror which he was lucky to
survive. “
Ignorance
Joke says the root of the problem is ignorance
because information about how one can get things done easily is not available
so a lot of people fall prey to touts. “I get very alarmed when I hear people
say they paid as much as N400, 000 for a US visa. I am like ‘how?’ Did you get
50 years? Osita narrowly escaped the police but somebody else came and said,
‘look, it’s quite easy to get to Europe. You don’t necessarily need to go by
air to get to your dreams. There’s a path through the desert and it doesn’t
take that long,” she narrated.
Continuing, the actress said Oseneme fell again
because he was desperate to make it to Europe but ended up spending 91 days in
the desert during which time he was attacked over and over again by bandits,
preyed upon by fellow Nigerians who were stranded in the desert. He watched
helplessly as men and women were forced into prostitution or were harvested for
their organs. “All these happened but nobody was aware because there was no
information and this is sad. If we are to change the situation, information is
important, education is key,” she added.
According to Joke, a major problem is that
Africans tend to see Europe as a place where the streets are paved with gold
and so Nigerian youths, plagued by poverty and deprivation will do anything
under the sun to make it to Europe.
“In Africa, we tend to think that Europe is the
place where the streets are paved with gold but that’s not the case. I was at a
programme recently and I said ‘look, I was in the United States, on Rodeo Drive
where you have all the rich people. Right there I saw people, white people
sleeping on the streets.
“So, you see, there are so many poor people all
over the world. What we are trying to say is that rather than leave your
country, why don’t you just find an alternative? Whatever you think the other
country has, come and develop it in your country. All over the world, people
are facing challenges whether we like it or not. If we want things to be better
for our country, let’s stay here and fight it collectively. We need to
fight for what we need for our country. We don’t have to be violent about it.
There are many options that will work for civil society. Going outside of this
country illegally is not an option.
“The reason people are trafficked is either for
their organs or to work as sex slaves and most times people fall victims
because of the lies that they are told. Most times, these people are deceived
by madams who pose as business women. They come back from probably Italy, build
a couple of houses and say ‘I can take so many people with me and they will
make a lot of money. They will come back and do the same thing I am doing with
money’, and young people are misled.”
Note of warning
Are you planning to travel out of the country
illegally? Are you seeking greener pastures in the Europe at all cost? Joke has
a warning for you. Hear her: “When these people go, they never make enough
money to come back. They are turned into sex slaves as soon as they arrive.
Back in Nigeria, they are made to go to shrines to swear to fake gods. They are
vulnerable and manipulated. If they are lucky they get to the other side but
many die before that.”
But why is Joke so passionate about this
project? “Because I don’t think anybody should live that kind of life. I really
do believe that we need to demystify the Western world. I studied there. I
remember one of the reasons why I didn’t stay over there as an actress was that
I did not want to work there. I made up my mind that if I was ever going to
work overseas, it would be because I was invited.”
Nollywood to the rescue
The delectable actress believes that film is a
tool, which could be used to create awareness about issues of human trafficking
and illegal immigration, and she says its thumbs up to Nollywood for telling
our stories the right way.
“We need to tell stories that give hope to
people in Nigeria. That’s what Nollywood has done for not only Nigeria, not
only Africa but also for the blacks in the Diaspora. Nollwood tells our stories
as just human beings with no baggage. There’s always a kind of stereotyping in
more established film traditions when it comes to the black story. In
Nollywood, we just tell stories, there is no stereotyping. What we need to do
now is to tell people stories that give them a feeling of hope about this
country,” she stressed.
Home sweet home
The thespian reveals that plans are underway to
do a screen adaptation for Oseneme’s book, The Mirage which chronicles his 91
days of horror in the desert and how he almost lost his life a couple of times.
“There are plans to make a movie out of the
book because his story just tells it as it is. One of the amazing things about
Oseneme’s story is that he survived the experience and had the resolve to come
back home. The bottom line of that story is that at the end of the day, he
realized that his country was the best place. He realized that there is no
place like his own country,” Joke concluded
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