Bulgarian trafficking victims face hard homecoming

By Juliette Terzieff

WeNews correspondent

Bulgaria is already seeing the outcomes of the first legislation passed to combat trafficking, a problem which affects tens of thousands of women in the Eastern European country. But despite these advances, public sympathy for the victims remains low.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (WOMENSENEWS)—Elena doesn’t talk much about her time outside Bulgaria. Tricked into forced prostitution in Western Europe by a job advertisement calling for secretaries in 2002, Elena spent nine months in bondage before escaping and making her way home.

"It was a hell I would like to forget," says the slim 23-year-old, who asked to use a pseudonym. "But the difficulties I am facing now just seem to make that impossible."

Even though Elena’s family was glad to have her back home, she’s found the readjustment immensely difficult; the attitudes of both herself and her loved ones changed.

"My family does not ask me for specific details and try to pretend like nothing has happened, but often I catch them quietly looking at me," she explains. "It is hurtful and unnerving, but, like them, I don’t really want to talk about it at all. I just want my life back." ... Full Article on Women’s enews