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Indonesian-born slavery survivor gives powerful speech at DNC
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Ima Matul walks to the podium to speak about sex trafficking during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, US, on July 26. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
I
ma Matul Maisaroh, a human trafficking survivor from Malang, East Java, made history on Tuesday evening when she delivered a powerful speech on slavery at a packed presidential convention of a major US political party.
"When I was 17-years-old, I was brought to Los Angeles with the promise of a job as a nanny. Instead, I spent the next three years in domestic servitude being abused," Ima told the Democratic National Convention in Philadephia on Tuesday evening local time.
In a video of her speech uploaded on Youtube, Ima seems confident in addressing delegates who filled the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention was held. She told of her harrowing experience before finally mustering the courage to escape her trafficker and find a home at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST), where she now works in organizing survivors like herself.
In her endorsement of the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, Ima praised her long-standing dedication in the fight to end modern slavery. The Indonesian-born 33-year-old, who now has American citizenship, expressed her firm belief in Clinton as the nation's leader to end modern slavery.
"I have hope, especially now that Hillary Clinton is becoming president [...] I have hope that we can end human trafficking," Ima said in the closing of her address, which was followed by a speech by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former president Bill Clinton.
A 2016 Global Slavery Index released in June placed Indonesia among the top 10 countries with the largest number of people trapped in modern slavery practices. The country has an estimated 736,000 people trapped in slavery. The traditional setting of domestic workers living with their employers, a common practice in Indonesia and many other countries where Indonesian housemaids are hired, is believed to have made Indonesians prone to slavery.
Watch her speech below. (ary)
