Josephine Bakhita

Josephine Bakhita (1869 - 1947)Human Trafficking SurvivorConvertReligiousSaint"Those holy mothers instructed me with heroic patience and introduced me to that God who from childhood I had felt in my heart without knowing who He was."Josephine Bakhita was born around 1869 in Darfur in Western Sudan into a prosperous Daju family. It is not known what her birth name really was as it was lost to her in the horror and trauma that became her life at the age of seven. The girl was kidnapped by slave traders who had already seized her older sisters, and walked a forced march of nearly 600 miles to El-Obeid and was even bought and sold several times before even arriving. This began a nightmarish existence of slavery endured by the young girl now named “Bakhita”, meaning “the lucky one” or “the fortunate one” by her slaver. She was forced to accept Islam as her faith. During this time of captivity, Bakhita endured a systematic abuse that included ritualistic torture that included beatings, humil