Raffaella Franci
PHOTOGRAPHER
info@raffaellafranci.it
+39 340 632 6302
Raffaella Franci
PHOTOGRAPHER
Sex and Garbage
“Sex and garbage” is the title of my report/exposé on Nigerian women who are victims of international sex trafficking. Forced to leave their country and escape the poverty that afflicts the region they come from, these young women are deceived by false benefactors with the mirage of honest work and the hope of a better life. Against their will, they find themselves on the street, having to sell their bodies to anyone for a few pennies.
Very often, minors and young women come from Benin City, the main city in Nigeria for human trafficking. Their seducers, often family friends, provide them with false documents prospectively necessary for their departure but then force them to perform the “juju” ritual during which they must swear to pay the debt of the journey and always obey those who will accompany them, and find their work in Europe. This oath has a very significant value for them; they fear that if they do not remain faithful to these promises, the spirits will punish them and their families in terrible ways. After a very long and terrifying journey, the girls arrive in Italy disoriented: they do not know the language, so they need someone to help them; for this reason, before leaving, the mediator orders them to wait at the station until the person in charge comes to pick them up. The exploiter, called "Madame", does not show up immediately upon their arrival but instead leaves them waiting for many hours; so, the girls, after having stood waiting all day in an unknown city, hungry and without being able to turn to anyone for assistance, finally see the “Madame.” They cannot help but be grateful and relieved when they see her show up. The "Madame" initially presents herself as a very generous woman, even making them feel like her daughters. Still, without too many explanations, she soon accompanies them to their workplace: the street. When the girls discover that their job consists of paid sexual services, they want nothing but to escape. However, too many obstacles make escaping virtually impossible. The most prominent, of course, being the oath they made through the “juju rite”, the fact that their family in Nigeria is relying on their support, the fact that they arrived in Italy illegally without a residence permit and documents, in short, escaping the situation is even more dangerous than remaining, and so they choose the latter. This is how modern slavery begins. In this inhuman business, Italy is the first customer.
I stole glances overflowing with melancholy, sadness, aggression and desperation. The photos were taken over a period of three years from a car speeding along a road in the Sicilian hinterland invaded by garbage and tears.
