A year ago, a 16-year-old Somali girl, Jamila Abdi, was hoodwinked into marriage by a tourist and brought to Nairobi, only to be abandoned penniless and with child.
Jamila was thus forced to take refuge at a brothel within the city from where she did what she had to in order to survive as well as fend for her young daughter.
The teenage refugee was castigated by the rest of the community who viewed her boarding situation a disgrace to the Islamic faith.
"They said, look at that Somali girl. She works in a brothel. But this is how my daughter and I survived," she disclosed.
However, as fate would have it, Britain's Channel 4 got wind of her predicament and decided to interview Jamila and share her story.
The tearful young and bewildered mother poured her heart out and remained adamant that despite her predicament, she would do whatever it took to ensure her survival.
"This place you've entered. No other Somali would come in here. but I am raising my daughter here. I live here. I have been given a bad name," she remarked.
Her story soon spread across the globe through Facebook and eventually landed at the hands of Fardowsa Abdirahman, who turned out to be the woman that would change Jamila's life forever.
On her part, Fardowsa stated that the story of the teenage mother stuck at brothel touched her to the core, prompting her to set up a fundraising page, which quickly raised more than Ksh1.5 million in just three days.
She then used the money to help Jamila move out of the brothel and into her own private apartment in Kenya's Eastleigh estate, as well as set her up with her own business.
"I used to pray to God that I didn't have to raise her there and God has answered my prayers. Here I can watch TV. Sometimes watch movies. I can cook. Home cooked food is much better," a visibly excited Jamila revealed to SBSNews.
Fardowsa has since started a movement to help out young girls such as Jamila who get duped into sex slavery under the guise of marriage.
Here's the video of Jamila's compelling story:
