Kim-Ly decided to leave her family home in Vietnam for a better life in the UK.
Kim-Ly was put in touch with a man, calling himself an ‘agent’, who promised her work for a cleaning business for £6 an hour. She paid the man £18,000 to facilitate her arrival in the UK and the cleaning job.
However when Kim-Ly arrived in the UK, life panned out to be very different to what she was promised. When she arrived at the airport, Kim-Ly was met by a British representative of the agency. She was taken to a grotty bedsit in Essex to drop off her belongings, and was put to work, straight away,
Kim-Ly felt utterly desperate....and had no-one to turn to.
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cleaning at a nearby factory.
For two-months Kim-Ly worked exhausting shifts, starting at 8am and often not ending until well after 10pm. Kim-Ly was rarely given time for meal breaks and could not afford food in any case, as she was not paid for the first two-months. When she eventually did receive a payment, it worked out to around £2.95 an hour, not the £6 she was promised. Her offer of accommodation at £20 per week also did not materialise and instead it cost her double.
Kim-Ly felt utterly desperate, she barely had enough food to eat, had no money to contact her relatives at home and had no-one to turn to.
Eventually Kim-Ly met another Vietnamese worker who spoke English and together they spoke to a Trade Union representative at the factory they both cleaned at. With help and support they managed to escape from their situations and eventually both returned home.