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The moment of the discovery of the reality is described as the beginning of anightmare. For many girls this moment coincides with the understanding of the realdebt that they and/or the family had underwritten through the strict pact with theexploiters in Nigeria. In some cases such a pact is reinforced or defined ex novo inthis phase, through the obligation to undergo a wodoo rite.Even for those who choose to come to Italy knowing that they are coming toprostitute themselves, the discovery of the way of work, the entity of the debt thatmust be repaid and the conditions of life and work, ahead of them, producesdiscouragement and re-thinking.What prevails at this point is a sense of impotence and isolation. The girls findthemselves in a foreign country, without family support and without any possibilityof contacting friends and parents possibly present in Italy or Europe. Once enteringinto the apartment they are effectively without any agenda, notebook or anything inwhich to put telephone numbers or addresses. Without documents, taken away, orimmediately destroyed, without the minimum idea of how to escape their destiny,frightened by the threats of action against the family and with the fear of thenegative influences of wodoo, sometimes subjected to physical violence, they windup doing the will of their “owners”: starting the activity of a prostitute.“You refuse to do it, but in reality you have to face life. Yes, you can escape,but where do you go? You want to talk. With whom? You are destroyed. Iremember that I refused to do so for five days. I always said no, said yes, and saidno going backwards and forwards. Then nothing, I cried continuously for fivedays…they put me on the road of Tarquinia in Rome ” (Interview Victim No.7).“I said to them, if you take me back to my country I will return the money justthe same, they said that such a thing was not done. I looked for help, in thatmoment you are new, you don’t know how to speak ” (Interview Victim No.10).The decision to go on the street was explained by one of the victimsinterviewed as the only possibility to get out of isolation and to have relations withthe outside world.“I thought inside me, if I say no, I cannot even meet anyone, I cannot leavehere, I don’t know the language. Here they do whatever they want. I asked her«Why didn’t you give me another job? Make me pay more». She said that I shouldnot disturb or discuss with her otherwise I will be in trouble” (Interview VictimNo.3).Not all the newly arrived are immediately sent out on the street, some pass afew days up to one or two weeks before “taking up the place of work”. In somecases the illusion to have come to do another type of work is prolonged a bit.“After three days I saw the girls that lived in the house, they were three, thosewho were preparing, went away and returned, went away and returned, above allat night. I started to think and I asked her (…) «The work that I must do, in whichshop is it? Why I did not bring my instruments?» She said to me: «We will go andbuy». Practically we went to buy the things needed to make the braids for the girls,without knowing that this was a bluff to make me calm. Then after a week she said:listen things change because in this country you do not have a choice, because I