DC Woman Speaks After Surviving 10 Years Forced Into Prostitution

A D.C. woman who survived being sold into slavery as a child and forced to work as a prostitute for 10 years is on the road to recovery and is telling her story.

Amora, 21, is safe now but she still lives in fear. Her name has been changed and News4 agreed not to show her face.

Her journey began when she was 10 years old and her father was addicted to crack cocaine.

"One of his dealers, was I guess supposed to give him crack and he had sold me basically for the crack," Amora said, long braids falling around her face.

The drug dealer recorded videos of her having sex and forced her into prostitution, Amora said. And then one day, he sold her.

"After all that I was placed in the back of a truck with about six or seven other girls," she said.

She was held captive for years, tied to a bed and forcibly drugged, she said. 

For years, she tried to get away.

"When I tried to escape, they stabbed me," Amora said. "One of the guys claimed he was my brother, took me to the hospital and told me if I said anything, that he would kill me in the hospital room. And so I didn’t say anything."

Amora's story is not unusual, said Bradley Myles, the CEO of the organization Polaris. The group works to eliminate modern slavery.

"This isn’t something that’s happening far away in Cambodia or Thailand -- it’s happening here in the United States, in our communities, and people need to wake up and realize that it's happening," he said.

About 21 million people are held in slavery around the world, Myles said.

Amora has a long road ahead of her, but she has reason to be hopeful, the Polaris CEO said.

"Once you take someone out of that environment and put them in a much more healthy environment, where people are encouraging them and they don’t have someone hindering their own growth, we see incredible turnarounds in people’s lives," Myles said.

Many victims do not survive, said Ruby Corado of the organization Casa Ruby, which serves LGBT people.

"Many people commit suicide, many people just abuse substances, they abuse alcohol, they abuse drugs because there’s a lot of pain," Corado said. 

Amora is working on earning her high school diploma.

"I feel there is a future for me," she said.

For more information on human trafficking, including how to get help and how to report suspected cases, see Polaris' website.

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