Elisabeth COSIMI
This post is also available in: French
A road somewhere near Naples. During winter and summer, for 14 hours a day, around 40 girls occupy the same work post from 8 in the morning. At each crossing point, they sell their ebony bodies for a sum between ten and twenty-five Euros. The girls are for the most part from Lagos or Benin City, in Nigeria. Here they lose their individuality; all be called Gioa, Beauty, Valentina, Sofia or Pamela. Those new to the job find themselves under the supervision of old prostitutes who find them a piece of pavement of which the rent is owed to the Camorra, the local mafia. Some girls maintain the prospect of a job as a waitress or dancer. Others know that they will be prostitutes. They are all caught in a trap. Once they arrive at their destination, these Nigerians – estimated to be 20 000 in Italy – begin an infernal routine where even the smallest detail of their lives is governed by the organisers of this traffic.