Africa-Press – Tanzania. A total of 59 girls who are victims of human trafficking have been rescued in Dar es Salaam in a period of nine months.
According to the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (DMI) Country Director, Sr Fatima Rani, the majority of girls flock to Tanzania’s commercial city after being promised jobs and end up being exploited.
Giving statistics gathered at the Dar es Salaam-based Centre from January to the end of September this year, the Catholic nun said other 89 girls who were rescued, 70 of them had already been abused sexually.
Speaking exclusively to the ‘Daily News’, the DMI Country Director said majority of the girls fall into the traps of human trafficking peddlers were coming from Kigoma, Tanga, Ruvuma, Dodoma, Simiyu, Rukwa, Njombe and Iringa. Other regions are Singida, Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Coast and Kilimanjaro.
“After receiving them, we counsel them in the Spring of Hope because most of them are already affected physically and psychologically… After returning to their normal mind, we train them in some life skills and they finally select a course to study in our Kibamba Campus in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam City to realize their full potential,” she said.
Currently, DMI’s Kibamba Campus trains rescued girls in the nine-month courses namely computer, tailoring and hair dressing.
Asked about the reasons behind the problem, Sister Rani said: “Poverty among the family and lack of awareness of how human trafficking peddlers work fuel the problem.”
However, she suggested that sectors like agriculture, which employs the majority of rural dwellers, be improved as a move toward the eradication of poverty.
“If the welfare of people in the rural setting will be uplifted, it will be difficult for middlemen to trap these young girls with the promise of a better life and better pay,” she added.
Help Humanity International (HHI), a not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization was formed in Tanzania in 2003 and it operates in the country through DMI.
The fundamental purpose for the establishment of the organization in the country was to address the developmental needs of the country, particularly human trafficking and child labour.
In Tanzania, DMI works closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the one responsible for local government authorities in their mission to rescue girls from exploitation and enroll them in tailored programmes to make them realize their full potential.
While DMI managed to rescue girls, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) states that in Tanzania, trafficking occurs both within and across the country’s borders.
“Many cases involve children who are recruited under false promises of a good education, for example, and end up being exploited as domestic workers, in the sex industry, or in the fishing and mining sectors,” IOM statements said.
IOM’s office in the country is working on Human Trafficking is focused on building the capacity and raising the awareness of the Tanzanian Government, civil society organizations and the general public, as well as provide assistance to victims of trafficking.
For More News And Analysis About Tanzania Follow Africa-Press
