This week I did a field visit at an NGO called COSUDOW (Committee for the Support of the Dignity of Women). This organization has been in the front position of fighting against the sex trafficking on women in Nigeria and rehabilitating and reintegrating returnees who were victims in this trade. It also investigates cases of threat to lives of families of victims who have decided to abandon prostitution for a more decent living. COSUDOW also help the women through empowerment. They find ways of giving them marketable skills and they help them to set up ventures that will give them some self-support. COSUDOW works in collaboration with other GO’s and NGO’s, both on a national and international level, in this matter.

When I visited the organisation I talked to a staff member, Ms. Ebhojieaye, and she said that an important work for them is family addressing. This means that they find the families of the trafficked girls and inform them about where their daughters are. The organization cooperates with Italian organizations that help women who have been trafficked to go back to Nigeria, so in some cases COSUDOW also informs the families about when their daughters are coming back. A part of their work is also to meet the girls that are sent back when they arrive at the airport in Lagos. They provide them with accommodation over night, and the next day they drive them back to Benin City.

On Wednesday I visited one of the schools that offer trafficked girls education in one of the fields of catering, hairdressing, computer and secretarial studies or fashion design. I talked for a long time with one of the teachers and he explained to me how they work with the trafficked girls. He said that they are offered council when they are in the program, and that they do follow ups when the girls have left the school. The program is set to four months, and every year they bring in new students. I was supposed to interview two girls that have been trafficked, but there was a missunderstanding, and they didn’t have anyone there at the moment. I have to do another try next week.

The rest of the week I spent on writing on my thesis. Next week I have planned to visit COSUDOW again for interviews, and also to do a field visit at an organization called NAPTIP.