Sold into slavery as a girl, Shyima Hall becomes a U.S. citizen

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1216-shyima-hall-20111216,0,1583100.story

When she was 10, Shyima Hall was smuggled from Egypt into the U.S. as a slave to a family in Irvine. In Montebello on Thursday, she became an American citizen.

By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times

December 16, 2011
A decade ago, Shyima Hall was smuggled into the United States as a 10-year-old slave, forced to cook and clean inside the home of a wealthy Irvine family and, at night, sleep on a squalid mattress in a windowless garage.

On Thursday, the Egyptian-born 22-year-old stood before a federal judge in Montebello with nearly 900 others and was sworn in as naturalized U.S. citizen. The ceremony capped a hard-scrabble journey that began with Hall's rescue, wound through the foster care system and ended with her living on her own, working, and with ambitions to become a federal agent.

"I went through something terrible, but right now I'm in a great place," Hall said after Thursday's citizenship ceremony at the Quiet Cannon Country Club. "I can't imagine anything greater than having my own life."

Hall's Egyptian parents sold her into slavery when she was 8 for $30 a month, according to authorities. The Cairo couple who bought her moved to Irvine two years later, smuggling Hall into the U.S. where she toiled for them and their five children until she was 13.

[MoonRiver]

1. Horrific

So glad she is free and I hope her life is blessed from now on.

[teddy51]

2. What happened to this family that held her as a slave? Hope they have been prosecuted! n/t

[azurnoir]

4. They were deported back to Egypt I more wonder about their kids

their fate was not mentioned

[azurnoir]

5. There are an estimated 12 million slaves held worldwide not all of them are Egyptian

most from what I've read are East Indian and Dubai has a population of Indian children who are slaves from what I've read on this subject

Perhaps doing more about poverty would be a greater help than cutting off what is mostly military aid to a single country

[azurnoir]

7. so your saying we should stop all foreign aid?

considering that our government was able to cough up more than $700 billion in a pinch to save banks IMO there are other places where the money could come from

[azurnoir]

10. The problem is that in this family the ones holding the purse strings

would move the nonprofitable family members the kids, grandma and grandpa ect into the part of house where the roof leaks and add some luxury accommodations to the part of house where the profitable members live, rather than to fix the whole roof even though they have the money to do just that

your reply would indicate that you think the US does not the money to fix itself because of foreign aid the US has the money and the potential for much more but would rather spend it on other things military, tax breaks for the wealthy, ect, foreign aid is a drop in the bucket

[closeupready]

9. For whatever reason, modern slavery isn't something people

Last edited Sat Dec 17, 2011, 09:55 AM - Edit history (1)

seem to get all that upset about. True, I'm speaking anecdotally, but I've posted topics here from highly credible sources on the subject of modern slavery that got zero responses.

But post a topic about marijuana, see the topic almost literally takes off.

Discouraging.