Reintegration of these young women into the society by the government will seriously help eradicate some of the challenges they face ranging from stigmatization, frustration, mental illness among other issues that is negatively impacting their lives.
People like this need special counseling and attention from the government as they were sold as sex slaves to their white masters by their agents without their knowledge. Some suffered imprisonment; were badly beaten and are now in need of urgent medical attention.
According to Sheku Bangura some of the female deportees since returning home have been ignored and abandoned by their families and loved ones, on the grounds that these young ladies left the country giving the impression that they were traveling to seek greener pastures using the skills and education they had acquired at home.
Oman, Lebanon and Kuwait according to Sheku Bangura are not conducive places for living. He urged other women that are thinking of embarking on similar dangerous journey to refrain.
“You that are here now are raw materials that will be helping to help save the lives of other ladies that are planning on making the same journey for them not to go ahead to face the same crisis,” Mr. Bangura said.
He maintained that his organization has been established for 2 years now and they aim at seeking the welfare of irregular migrants, adding that some of the ladies are currently homeless.
Sharing her experience, Isha Tholley one of the deportees said she left the country to secure a better job in order to take care of her children and family, adding that she was thinking that if she left the shores of Sierra Leone, she would be able to secure a good job upon her arrival in a foreign land, but that she was disappointed to discover otherwise.
“We left our country most especially because they promised to pay us good money, but on our arrival, they refused and we suffered a lot as a result,” she lamented.
She added that she was continuously raped and her leg fractured through severe beating and that upon disclosing this to her fiancé on her return, he promptly broke up with her, adding that some of her colleagues are currently in Kuwait stranded and suffering.