Mauritania in 2019

Women in shop Mauritania

Building freedom from traditional slavery

In Mauritania, we work together with our partner to support people who escape traditional slavery, which still persists in the country.

It is extremely difficult for people who were enslaved from birth, particularly women, to build their lives in freedom. We provide emergency support and a network of female mentors to start this difficult process and help establish themselves in local communities.

We also provide literacy and vocational training, which is bringing spectacular successes. Today, for example, 368 women are thriving after our project gave them training, equipment and funds to run small businesses.

We’ve also enjoyed big successes in bringing slavery cases to court, with two harsh sentences given to former masters, which resonated across the country. There have only been five previous slavery convictions in Mauritania’s history, so this is a big step forward to ending slavery in the country.

Tarba: story of freedom

Tarba, survivor of traditional slavery in Niger

Tarba is one of the people we stood with after she escaped. She was born into slavery and worked without pay – her life completely controlled by her masters. “I did not rest. I slept little, I was beaten, I was insulted.”

She eventually ran away and was given literacy and vocational training by our project. “Today, I feel free, I know where I am going, what I can do.”

Niger slave descend children in school

Stand up for people in slavery in 2020

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