Modern Day Slavery: Shyima's Story

July 30, 2007— -- A beautiful girl with a Cinderella story -- this time it's not a fairy tale, but a young woman's real-life struggle to escape poverty and servitude. Shyima, now 17 years-old, once worked as a slave in an American household.

It was a house just like any other in the wealthy Northwood district of Irvine, California. But Shyima worked in that home as a secret servant, often locked inside, for three years. She labored up to twenty hours a day without pay, trapped in a life that amounted to slavery.

"I [could do] nothing but…pray to God. That's about it," Shyima said.

Watch the story on "Primetime Family Secrets" Tuesday at 10 p.m. EDT

Shyima grew up in Egypt, one of twelve children living in a destitute section of Alexandria. When she was only nine, Shyima's mother sent her away from home so she could work.

But what Shyima did not know was that her parents had essentially sold her into slavery. A contract between her parents and Nassar Ibrahim, a 51-year-old entrepreneur, stated that Shyima would work for his family of seven for the next ten years. In exchange, Nasser would pay Shyima's parents a minimal monthly fee. She would receive no money for her work.

"I thought, 'This is a classic case,'" said Kevin Bales, who leads a human rights organization called Free the Slaves (http://www.freetheslaves.net/). "It has virtually every single marker for the enslavement of a young girl under domestic service."

According to Bales, there are about 27 million people enslaved around the world today. He estimates 15,000 slaves are brought into the U.S. each year.Shyima became one of them when the Ibrahims decided to relocate to Irvine, California in August of 2000. In Shyima's case, the human trafficking was easy to hide. A passport picture and a false visa were all it took. Shyima's paperwork claimed she was "a student," "on vacation," and she would be back in "one month."

Once in the United States, the Ibrahims moved into an upscale home in a gated community. Instead of living in the luxurious house with the family, however, the Ibrahims forced Shyima to live alone in a small, dirty room in the garage. She slept on a mattress with no heating or air conditioning and washed her clothes in a bucket. She worked seven days a week, washing the dishes, doing laundry, and scrubbing the kitchen floors until late at night.