From Playground to Prostitute

The man who would have been her first client turns around to his clothes on the coat hangers against the wall. 'I have to get out of here . . . sir, I am just a child, sir! Please call the police so they will come and fetch me!' 'I don't believe it,' he says, shaking his head. 'I bloody well don't believe what I'm hearing right now! Do you know . . . do you know that . . .' Then he's out the door. 'Help me, sir! Please, help me!' Engela calls after him as he swiftly disappears down the passage. Sixteen-year-old Engela flees to Bloemfontein because the leader of the Satanic Group 13 wishes to kill her. Her path crosses with Pieter, a friend of her brother's, who turns her over to the owner of a brothel in return for money he owes him. After a desperate and impoverished childhood Engela, as a rebellious teenager, becomes mixed up with Satanism, alcohol and drugs and is eventually kept as a sex slave. Her only wish is to escape, but how? Every night the club's doors are shuttered. Her final shot at freedom is the young student Jacques who works in the club's reception area. But then he also disappears from the scene following a mysterious accident in the Drakensberg . . . In the second part of the book Elanie shares with the reader her awful experiences. She relates how she learned to cope with her feelings of despair, loneliness, pain and humiliation from a Christian perspective. She reaches out to other former victims of sex trafficking and encourages them to open their hearts in order to achieve emotional healing. She talks about the power of forgiveness and acceptance, and also offers essential practical advice for parents and their children.