South Carolina Bureau
AIKEN --- For 5-year-old Micheline Slattery, doing laundry was the favorite task of the day, even though her body ached from carrying the large basket of clothes atop her head.
The chore gave her time away from her abusive aunt and uncle and allowed her to dream and pray for her deceased parents to come back for her, Ms. Slattery told her audience at the University of South Carolina Aiken's Etherredge Center.
Ms. Slattery, a native of Haiti, said she is a former slave and a victim of human trafficking. Now, Ms. Slattery is an activist, bringing awareness to the issue of modern-day slavery and human trafficking that goes on in the U.S. every year.
"For me, the term 'slavery' does not issue images of plantations and slave markets," she said during her talk Monday night. "For me, it's a much more recent problem."
Ms. Slattery was born to a prominent family but at age 6 lost her parents to the "political chaos" in Haiti. She was sent to live with her father's sister and was forced to take care of a family of 12.
Pausing to compose herself as the audience sat silently, Ms. Slattery went on to describe, in detail, her punishment at the hands of people who were supposed to love her.
Four or five times a day, she would make the five-mile journey to a lake to fill three one-gallon buckets with water. If the water supply ran low at her house, her aunt would beat her with flexible rods or force her to kneel in the hot sun for hours on a cheese grater covered with rock salt, which would tear into her skin.
Her woes didn't end when she left the Caribbean island of her birth. When she was 14, a cousin sold her to another cousin in Connecticut for $2,500, she said.
In the upscale community of Darien, Ms. Slattery was once again a slave, taking care of her cousin's household and four children until she ran away at the age of 18.
She managed to build a life for herself and put herself through nursing school.
More than a year ago, Ms. Slattery began telling her story and speaking out about the indignities and horrors of human trafficking.
According to the U.S. State Department, between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. every year, and an additional 600,000 to 800,000 are trafficked across international borders.
Ms. Slattery said she speaks out because thousands of people in Haiti and the U.S. have stories similar to hers.
"Freedom is everyone's birthright," she said.
Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395 or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com.
