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Mercy Ameyo Senahe

Mercy Ameyo Senahe tells her story at the age of 23. As penance for her grandmother's theft of a necklace, she was held captive in a religious shrine for 13 years.

"The shrine looked foreign, strange and evil and the priest looked like a wicked man. I woke up early with the other trokosi slaves to fetch water to the compound, sweep the compound and go to the farm. We worked on the farm until sunset and return[ed] to the shrine. We had to find our own food or sleep on empty stomachs. I slept in a small mudroom with six other girls and women...

"I go to my family [now that] I am due to have the priest's baby but they never accepted me as one of theirs. I was a total stranger and not wanted in my own family… Maybe I could have been a doctor, teacher, lawyer or a nurse but instead, a single parent of four children from a wicked priest in a wicked system..."

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