NADJA Kozhuharova is a psychotherapist working with women who have become victims of trafficking and who have sought the help of Animus.
She spoke to The Echo about the problems these women go through after they have escaped the traffickers:

Can you identify the risk groups of vulnerable girls who may become victims of trafficking?

The age and social status of a girl, her family and the type of town she comes from, a small village or a bigger town, are criteria which should be taken into consideration, but are not that significant. They of course have their impact, yet the major factor is the psychological mood of those women who wish to change their lives. This is normal for all people at a younger age, they wish to do what is best for them and seek opportunities to fulfill their dreams. Unfortunately, these factors bind up together with the difficulties that a young and ambitious girl experiences in finding the best field of work for her.
We should also take into account the specific attitude Bulgarians have toward travelling. We have long been kept on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Travelling was impossible, one needed visas and it was so expensive. So, this whole idea that life in the West is wonderful, that things there are easier to achieve is an idealisation of some sort which is still alive and young people are influenced by it.
It is also very important to take note of the fact we are talking about young women who are seized with curiosity, typical for their age, which, unfortunately, is related to the lack of social experience. Thus dangers are miscalculated and one's own abilities and strengths are overrated. So, you see, this is a vast range of factors, combined in a different way for different people.
The girls who become victims of trafficking are each approached in a very unique and individual way by the traffickers. The person who approaches them for the first time is typically a person these young women can confide in, a person they know very well. He or she then watches them closely for a long time, makes friends with them, finds out everything about their dreams and builds up unique tactics to approach them.
Naturally, girls who have no close friends or healthy family and environment seem to fall easy prey to trafficking, because there will be few people to look for the girls once they disappear and try to save them.

Can we say that trafficking in women is a negative phenomenon typical to post-totalitarian societies?

I wouldn't put it that way, because those girls actually are trafficked into Western countries. So, the problem is of international dimensions. Trafficking in women is, of course, related to the difficulties that societies in transition tend to experience, namely, economic instability, lack of prospects, unemployment, organised crime, a sense of impunity, lack of strong judiciary, police that have a poor image. Naturally, all these factors should be taken heed of.

How are the girls lured by traffickers, what are the main techniques?

As I told you, each girl is approached individually. Naturally, there are some common techniques. The girls are promised good jobs, financial security. There are also girls who are fully aware that they will be prostitutes, but this is their own choice. The fact, however, that they are trapped, abused, locked away from the world and put under control also makes them victims of trafficking.
Trafficking, you see, is not always related to prostitution. These women could be forced into other slavery-like practices. For example, they could be forced to work around the clock without payment and kept locked up. Typically, in such cases, victims are adult women. I would like to say immediately that Animus is focusing particularly on women, yet men can also become victims of this crime. There was a similar case concerning Bulgarian engineers and construction workers not long ago in Israel. There was a suicide, and physical abuse. This is a typical case of trafficking. People think trafficking is always related to prostitution, but in fact it boils down to slavery-like conditions and labour. Of course, it all becomes very destructive when the human body is abused and violated, as in the case of prostitution.

Can you describe the process of your work with girls who have become victims of trafficking?

Our work is multi-layered. The women usually reach Animus after foreign organisations similar to ours send them to us. Our work starts the very moment the girl enters Bulgaria. We meet the girl and the first thing we have to do is to create a sense of security and protection for her and provide essential things, such as accommodation, food, clothes, medical examination. Typically, each girl is handled by one person who maps out this whole scheme for social help.
Then we undertake the so-called crisis intervention, emergency help, which is to aid the girl master her chaotic emotions, because if they take the upper hand the girl would have difficulties making decisions important for her future. You see, the most important thing for a girl at that point is to decide how she is to carry on, with that traumatic experience of prostitution behind her. So, the first thing we do is provide the victim with a protected space where she can calm down, have a rest and start pulling the pieces of her life back together. This is what we have to do in a short-term prospect.
In a long-term prospect, we try to provide psychotherapeutic help.
On the other hand, we also try to help the women take care of their lives by themselves. We help them find a place to live, find a job. We have a special programme for empowerment of women through which we try to help them be more competitive on the job market. We can even help them re-qualify into a different profession.
Yet, there is yet another angle we need to consider. Some of those women wish to return to their families. So, we try to maintain contacts with the families, because the parents are very upset and also need help in overcoming the fact that their daughter has been in the sex trade.

What are the emotions those girls have to cope with having escaped the traffickers' ring?

People usually think those girls return here crying, torn and depressed. The truth is they sometimes return here with their self-esteem high up that they have survived. Others, however, return here infuriated at the system, the state, society, the traffickers. Our job as psychotherapists is to manage the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder those girls have. They change moods very frequently. One day they think they can overcome anything and survive anything, the next day they think they have lost everything.
What is more, their relations with other people are totally destroyed. These girls have been lied to, abused and beaten up by people whom they have trusted, so, it is very difficult for them to establish again a bond of trust, which is a must to carry on in the world we live in. It would be very hard to think that everyone is your enemy, that everyone can sooner or later use and abuse you. Thus, the first bond of trust, the one with the psychotherapist, is very important.

How long can it take for a girl to recover?

This is a major problem. It takes a very long time to recover. Not all girls can afford to remain in Sofia, here with us. We have a crisis centre, which however allows two to three weeks of accommodation. The problem is that it can take two to three months to recover.

Can a girl recover completely from the traumatic experience she has had?

Not all girls recover. We are talking here about reintegration, but in fact, many of those girls have never been fully integrated before they have become victims of trafficking, so we should rather talk about integration into society.