Atuallah

Ataullah was abducted with his brother and taken to a nearby brick kiln. He was told that he owed the kiln owner money, which would be worked off at the kiln:

"The kiln was like a prison. An armed guard kept anyone from leaving and the manager was very rough with them. Some of the people in my family can read and write, and soon they began to suspect, and then they were certain, that they were being cheated on their accounts...[So my brother-in-law] began to plan their escape from the kiln...

"This was crazy! I had never been to this kiln before in my life and I had never worked there; I didn't owe this man any money, and I told him this all had nothing to do with me. The kiln owner just said that was tough, he was holding my brother and me as ransom against my brother-in-law's debt. At the kiln they made me work and told me that if I tried to escape they would beat me or shoot me. At night my brother and I were locked up in a windowless room where the heat was terrible. Finally we convinced them to let us sleep outside, but they shackled us with chains to the beds where we slept. The other workers lived in a compound that was locked at night, and all day a gunman kept an eye on everything and threatened anyone who stepped out of line."

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