The first time I learned that Voodoo had a role in the trafficking scheme was one week before I left for Italy. Some time before that I had read that more women and children are trafficked from Western Africa than anywhere else in the world. This struck me at the time because Africa is not really mentioned in discussion of trafficking in the U.S.
The reason is that trafficking from Africa targets predominantly European destinations. In Italy trafficking from Nigeria occurs more than from any other country.
Traffickers of Nigerians are Nigerian, for the most part. Traffickers conduct Voodoo rituals on the girls before they exit the country, and they continue to use Voodoo to control and instill immeasurable fear in them after they arrive.
Voodoo is the belief in spirits, which have minds of their own and can be communicated with through various rituals. When something bad happens it is because there is a spirit that is willing it to happen, the same is true for good things.
This is not explicable, but as with deep believers in the bible perhaps, there is a decided explanation for everything and with voodoo it is spirits.
Posted By Anya Gorovets (Italy)
Posted Oct 4th, 2006