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Christian's story
”Now she looks human”
Christian knew nothing about trafficking before he met Rose from Nigeria - crying at a bus stop in Copenhagen. But he took her in and helped her out using his human intuition and the network of professionals which he slowly built around him
It’s March and it’s cold. It’s an evening more than three years ago. A man is waiting at a bus stop in Copenhagen. He’s just going home. But there in the shed he sees a girl.
Apathy is probably the best way to describe the girl. She’s thin and she’s wearing too little clothes. She’s just sitting there crying. She doesn’t speak, not even when the man asks what has happened. Nevertheless, he has to do something. The man makes an attempt, “My daughters are at home, why don’t you join us for dinner?” She gets up and nods.
It’s the first time Rose and Christian meet each other.
Rose is in her mid-twenties. She’s from Nigeria. But it’s a long time since she has been home. When she was 17 she was set up and sent out of the country – to Europe. Here she goes on the street and makes a lot of money. Not for herself, but for the people who have tattooed their marks into her dark skin.
Christian is around 50. He knows nothing of young girls being sold from their countries. He has no idea what he is bringing home that evening. And when he wakes up the next morning the quiet girl is gone again.
But then one day Rose is back. She’s carrying two plastic bags. She still doesn’t speak, but just sits there on Christian’s stairs. He lets her in and gives her a bed. Now Rose has run away for good.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Once, Christian was accepted as a foster parent for a little girl. This was at the University Hospital of Copenhagen. Christian’s own son was in hospital. He was seriously ill. The little girl too. But her own parents couldn’t take care of her.
They were very young, had recently lost another child, and periodically left the country. So Christian sat with their daughter when she died. They still talk about him at the hospital: Christian who – without hesitation – took care of a child who was mortally ill.
He’s is also well-known elsewhere. With the Red Cross where Christian several times has taken care of unaccompanied refugee minors. But none the less he knows nothing about trafficking in women.
That’s why he hardly believes his ears when Rose one night begins to tell her story.
It’s been a while since Rose found her way with her plastic bags. She’s in the guest room. Christian sits on his bed. After a while she walks into his room.
She sits next to him. ”Do you know what they did to me”, is one of the first things she says. “Do you know how bad they were?” And then Rose started talking. Non stop for three days. About rapes, hunger and punishment. About being forced to stand on her knees all night because she hasn’t made enough money, about cramming her vagina with cott on wool and taking customers during her period, about police, abortion and her seven years in the street in
Italy. All in one mixed jumble.
“It was like throwing a box of Lego blocks on the floor”, Christian says. “I was sure she was going to break down, but I couldn’t stop it.” Non stop. Rose in un-stoppable. They don’t eat. Hardly sleep. If Christian dozes off, Rose takes his arm and shakes him: “Now you have to hear the rest”. Christian does nothing. Takes notes to make head and tail of it. But otherwise he does nothing.
And Rose gains confidence in the man who just listens when she talks.
TRAINING WITH A SHADOW
Rose is allowed to stay. Christian takes her in like a foster child. He doesn’t tell the authorities about the young woman. Christian thinks that Rose just needs some peace and quiet.
It’s obvious that Rose has huge traumas. She draws back from it when someone puts a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you want food?” Rose can sit still all day if Christian doesn’t ask. So he trains her will all the time. “Do you prefer these shoes? Do you want potatoes or rice?” It’s completely banal. But Rose bends like a straw in the wind when a choice is ahead; all she wants is to please.
Christian provokes reactions. One day Rose throws a fit in the kitchen. She throws the pots all over the place. Smashes plates on the floor. Rose wants to cook but Christian doesn’t want to go shopping. “Sorry, sorry, sorry”, afterwards she can’t be comforted. But Christian is happy. Because right there, in Rose’s wild reaction, is a hint of humanity.
“You do these things. Eat a nice dinner”, Christian tells her. He trains Rose at every hour of the day. She is dragged along to parties in Christian’s large family. Because Rose needs to learn how normal people relate to each other.
She never initiates a conversation. But little by little she can keep up when other people do.
For a long time Rose is isolated but then a friend comes to see her. It is Lisa who was close to Rose, when they were both working in the streets of Copenhagen. Rose is very happy to see her, but also nervous. Lisa is still working for the mama and will get paid, if she tells where Rose is.
One day Lisa is arrested and expelled from Denmark. Rose and Christian don’t hear from her anymore.
FUMBLING FOR A NETWORK
“If Lisa had told on us, we would both be dead”, Christian says. A slave just doesn’t run away. Rose’s traffickers are struggling to get her back. In Africa her sister is captured. The message is that Rose should go back to her traffickers or her sister Anna will never be free again.
“What will I do now?”, Christian is left high and dry. When Anna is captured, he decides to seek help for the first time. Christian turns to the Catholic Church.
They negotiate with someone in Nigeria and Anna is freed. But the money that is used for this is paid by Christian, though we are talking about a lot of money.
Nigeria is a country of tribes and it is always easy to locate people.
Christian keeps moving Rose’s mother and sisters around. They live in seven different places. The cost is several hundred thousand Danish Kroner.
Eight months have passed when Christian contacts the Red Cross. “This is a time where she shows more and more self-confidence and strength”. Christian feels that professionals are needed. That’s a relief: Finally others are sharing his burden. Rose’s health is checked. She is in therapy and receives legal advice. She also starts going to school.
All this requires that she seeks asylum which is a tough process. Rose is rejected in the first instance – even though she tells the police everything she knows. ‘The Case of Rose’ gets a lot of attention in the media and is discussed in Parliament. Finally, in June 2007, the Refugee Board changes the first instance decision and she is granted asylum.
The people working at “Reden” (‘The Nest’ - institution helping women in prostitution)are thrilled. Finally, a trafficked woman is granted asylum; Rose has opened the passage. Christian meets Trine Lund- Jensen and Dorit Otzen, who run the drop-in centre for the street prostitutes.
And finally, at the very end, he understands that he could have shared his burden much earlier.
WELL UNDER WAY
Rose is allowed to stay. But Christian keeps pushing her: She needs to stand on her own two feet. She gets her own flat in a suburb, so she becomes part of Denmark. Christian teaches Rose the importance of being able to pay everyone his due. She takes a full-time job and learns Danish in evening classes.
Christian also insists that Rose should have friends. He finds some Danish girls. This breaks the ice and Rose quickly starts getting to know people. She begins to look at men and dresses smartly. “She likes men looking at her”, Christian says happily. Because that’s what it’s all about: “A young girl shouldn’t sit in a couch dumbfounded. She should go out and fall in love. She should have fun and spend time with her girlfriends”. Christian feels that they are reaching goal.
Rose has become human along the way: She is independent. She has a job and is ambitious to learn more. Christian is extremely proud. The hardest part is over and finally he can relax.
Until his phone suddenly rings. It’s January 2008. It’s Rose. Her message is short: “Lisa is back. I have given her your number. You have to talk to her”.
Christian’s work in perspective
Lisa is Rose’s friend. She knows what he has done for Rose. Therefore she has come to him. But Lisa also has friends in the street. They ask for Christian because they know that he can help. Some have started spending time at his home. They drink tea in the kitchen. They are waiting for their turn to talk to someone they trust.
Christian’s work started with Rose. There will be no more Roses. Her case is unique and she is almost Christian’s daughter now. But there could be more Lisas: Women who Christian helps opening up and being able to tell their story. So they are strong enough to take the help which is already at offer: the Red Cross, the Nest, the Immigration Service, and the police.
None the less, Christian needs help. It’s expensive and it takes time to help a trafficked woman. Christian’s Friends help in helping. We hope you will do the same.
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