Hi, Natalia Antonova here.

A few years back, I conducted an interview with a wonderful human being, Tetyana Metyura. Ms. Metyura is an associate of La Strada, an NGO devoted to the struggle against human trafficking. We met in my hometown of Kiev, Ukraine.

The trafficking of Eastern European women to the Middle East was, and continues to be, of special interest to me; after all, while I was in Jordan in the summer of 2005, a number of people asked me: “Why do so many prostitutes in Arab countries come from places like your native Ukraine, Nat? Do you know what your name, Natasha [a diminutive of Natalia] actually implies?”

I wanted to highlight this problem for my Jordanian friends, and for anyone else who might ask similar questions. I also wanted to understand how things ended up going so terribly wrong, both for my fellow women and for the people who would sink so low as to engage in the soul-crushing slave trade. I didn’t get the answer to all my existential questions - but Ms. Metyura was a well of useful knowledge nonetheless.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

…I was surprised when I came across Middle Eastern stereotypes of trafficked women. Some of the people believed that women who are involved in the sex-trade are the guilty party. At the same time they forgot that victims of trafficking have an unlimited workday, suffer from violence, and work under the constant threat of force. They are one of the most vulnerable groups out there.

…Of course, here at La Strada we refuse to generalize about people based on their nationalities, there are plenty of Israelis and other Middle Easterners who are interested in helping trafficked persons, not hurting them further…

You can read the entire thing here.