© Mimi Chakarova
"They brought me to a group of 12 men, kept me there for four days, taking turns," said Maia, who was trafficked to Moscow at 18 - Moldova, 2005
"They brought me to a group of 12 men, kept me there for four days, taking turns," said Maia, who was trafficked to Moscow at 18 - Moldova, 2005
That's the funny thing about life. Experience comes in random, sporadic servings. It's only years later that the story takes shape.
I didn't intend to spend more than a year covering human trafficking. It ended up taking a decade. I didn't intend on reporting in more than two countries. So, how did I end up in nine?
Before my trips, my mum used to ask: "It took us so many years to get out of poverty, why do you keep returning there?" I would sit in her kitchen and the only answer that would come to mind was: "It's so damn familiar."
I can say the same about the Balkans. Each time the plane landed, I was home. It could have been Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bulgaria (my birth country), or Macedonia - I wasn't an outsider. I understood the culture, the rawness of our ways, the dark humour of our days.
Comment: Sell the cheapest products possible to the largest number of people for the highest possible profit and if you can make more money by replacing the real thing with a facsimile then by all means do it whether it's the so-called "food" products or your employees. This is what happens when a society centers itself squarely around generating the most money for the fewest people instead of building society favorably for all and raising the quality of life for all. It's a clear sign of near total failure and such a society really ought not endure, after all why should it?