Thread by @BBCAfrica

THREAD

This is Grace.

A year ago she was trapped in a brothel in Delhi, forced into sex work by an organised network of pimps and madams who have trafficked hundreds of African women to India.

But Grace fought back.

[Full #BBCAfricaEye film: ]

You may remember Grace.

In 2018, she was featured in the #BBCAfricaEye series ‘Sex and the Sugar Daddy’.

Not long after that story went out, Grace saw a post on a WhatsApp group, promising high paying work as a hostess and dancer in India.

“You’ll earn good money,” they told her.

Soon she had a passport, a ticket to New Delhi, and the hopes of supporting her family back home.

But when Grace arrived she was taken straight to a brothel run by this woman, Goldie, & told she needed to repay $3800 - almost 7 times the actual cost of a ticket to India.

With her passport confiscated, and her tourist visa running out, Grace was effectively trapped in Delhi.

This is the debt book in which Grace recorded the slow, painful repayment of that debt to Goldie.

Every date, every client is reflected in this book. Each client paid just 1000 rupees.

Grace owed 270,000 rupees.

Along with other women trapped in the same system, Grace was sent out at night to work the “kitchens” - illegal bars where African men living in Delhi can go to drink, dance, and pick up women for sex.

Before long, the other madams in the Indian network were asking Grace to bring new women from Kenya to India.

When she heard one of her friends was ready to get on a plane to New Delhi, she called her friend saying: "Don’t come. It’s a lie. It’s a trap."

The madam who lost out on the new sex worker was furious.

So she complained to the man who lies at the heart of this sex trade network: Eddie, the chairman.

Eddie’s presents himself as the AINSCA Chairman in Tughlakabad - an association that supports Nigerian students living in India.

But Grace knows another side to him.

He mediates disputes between madams and the trafficked sex women.

This is Eddie pressuring Grace to bring a new woman to India...

And this is how he sweetens the offer: bring a new girl for the madam, he tells Grace, and bring one for yourself…

This is how the network grows. Women pay off their debts and then, hoping to make something for themselves, start acting as madams for a new generation of sex workers.

Goldie brought Grace, and managed her with her partner madam Princess. Together they are Grace’s “mothers.”

This is Anita, the woman who brought Princess to India. That makes her Grace’s “grandmother.”

Mum. Grandma. Sisters. The names sound like a family, says Grace. But this is a family based on ruthless exploitation.

#BBCAfricaEye asked the three madams Goldie, Princess and Anita to answer our allegations of trafficking and brothel keeping. They made no response.

After almost a year, Grace finally paid off her debt.

But she had nothing to show for all her misery - and with her 60-day tourist visa expired, she was now living in India illegally.

With no other employment options, Grace would be expected to become a madam herself.

So she pretends to use this as an excuse to find out how the sex trade network operates.

And Eddie offers to facilitate the transit of a new woman from Kenya to India.

What he didn’t know was that Grace was wearing a camera and recording every word.

It was not easy for Grace to record these images.

But thanks to her courage, #BBCAfricaEye had enough evidence to confront Eddie about his role in the sex trade.

#BBCAfricaEye contacted Eddie three times to ask him to explain his role in the sex trade of women from Kenya to India.

He offered no substantive response to our allegations but denied any involvement in trafficking.

#BBCAfricaEye also contacted AINSCA officials in Delhi to provide information about their relationship with Eddie.

The organisation said:

After being in India for 11 months, Grace finally returns back to her family in Kenya.

She is now rebuilding her life, studying and working part time.

You can watch a shorter version of ‘Imported for my Body’ here: bbc.in/2M1TOGB
And the full film here:

'Imported for my Body' is an investigation directed and reported by @missnyashak, produced by @petemurimi and edited by @Ladan_Anoushfar. Data investigator @Yaolri.

#BBCAfricaEye team also includes @danielsilas @SVanhooymissen @KelvinNews @attwoodch & editor @marcperky.