From Budapest to Toronto: Timea Eva's True Story of Slavery

categories: Human Trafficking Awareness, Human Trafficking in Europe and the Middle East, Human Trafficking in the Western Hemisphere, International Human Trafficking and Migration, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution, Trafficking in Women

Published September 06, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT

This story was collected from KMBC. Timea Eva's experiences as a trafficking victim are common. They're so common that situations like her's -- a young, Eastern European woman tricked into the commercial sex industry -- have become the norm for mainstream coverage and examples of human trafficking. But this situation was real for Timea Eva and thousands of other women from Eastern Europe from the 1990s to today.

The summer Timea Eva Nagy was 20, she decided to take a summer job in Canada. It was far away from her home in Budapest, Hungary, but she would earn money and have an interesting international experience. Shortly arriving in Toronto, however, she was kidnapped and forced to strip and sell her body for sex.

During her captivity, Nagy desperately wanted to leave, but her traffickers threatened to harm her family back in Hungary if she tried to escape. They starved her to keep her weak and thin. She tried to find help. She eventually even tried suicide. But it seemed nothing would release her from this nightmare. But despite it all, Nagy suppressed the urge to panic and break down. She stayed calm and went into "survival mode", determined to finally find a way to break free.

Finally she found a way out. Nagy managed to use a Hungarian-English dictionary to explain to a DJ and a security guard that she was being abused, and that she wanted to leave. They helped her escape her captors and find safety.

Nagy's story has as happy an ending as such a story can have. She now tours the U.S. talking about her experience and educating people on the reality of human trafficking. She has even written a book called "Walk with Me: A Memoir of a Sex Slave Worker."

Photo credit: Mysi anne

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Comments (4)

Traffic human is wrong and the government of every country should do whatever it takes to stop those people who use young girls and women as money makers against their will.

Posted by Cynthia severine Nyengui Manonzo on 09/06/2009 @ 02:40PM PT
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Im glad she got away...

One thing to think about is the language problem in that if she had been able to speak english or if more folks could speak her language then she might have had an easier time getting away...

Still its good that she was able to escape.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/08/2009 @ 02:51PM PT
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Hi Thomas, I was surprised to see my name and myself in this artice...but I have been doing interviews for awhile so I guess its not that unusal...

I just want to say, that If I were to speak english, my head was still brain washed, and I was told every single day that if we get away, we will be beaten up or burned alive...so at that time I don't thing speaking english would have helped too much, but thank you so much for your positive comment

Posted by Timea Nagy on 09/12/2009 @ 08:53AM PT
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I say that those who would enslave should be enslaved for an equal amount of time.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/08/2009 @ 02:52PM PT
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Author

Amanda has been a full-time abolitionist for six years. During that time, she has created reports, documentaries and training materials on human trafficking in the United States and around the world.