NPR

A Victim Of Sex Trafficking, Blessing Okoedion Now Works To Save Others

The Nigerian activist was honored by the U.S. State Department in June for her efforts to combat human trafficking in Italy and Nigeria.
Nigerian anti-trafficking activist Blessing Okoedion at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., in June.

When Blessing Okoedion was 26, she headed to Spain for a job she had been offered at a computer store. In her home country of Nigeria, she had earned a degree in computer science and started her own business repairing computers.

But the job offer was a ruse. Her work visa had been faked by human traffickers. There was no computer store job.

After a brief stop in Spain, her captors sent her to Naples, Italy. They told her

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