Shandra Woworuntu Experience

The first week of June, 2001 Shandra Woworuntu arrived in the US, upon her arrival, she was hoping to start a career in the hotel industry, she came to America thinking it was the land of promise and opportunity, as she moved through immigration she was very excited to be in a new country. Once in the arrival hall, she heard her name, and turned to find a man named Johnny warmly smiling and holding a sign with her picture on it. Originally, she that he would drive her to the hotel she was supposed to work at. The hotel was in Chicago and she arrived at JFK, nearly 800 miles away. In Indonesia, she earned a degree in finance, she worked in a bank as a trader and analyst. However, in 1998 she lost her job when Asia was in turmoil from a financial …show more content…
In addition, she went to the Indonesian consulate for help, they did not help her either, she was angry and upset. The weather was changing and she had nothing, nowhere to go for shelter, she slept on the Staten Island Ferry, NYC Subway and in Times Square, she begged for food from stranger and told them her story whenever she could get them to listen. Eventually, she met a man named Eddy in Grand Ferry Park, he was a sailor on holiday and he brought her some food. Plans were made for them to meet again the next day at noon. When he arrived the next day, he informed her, he had made some calls on her behalf, he called the FBI and the FBI called the police precinct, they rushed to the precinct so, the officers could help her. Eddy drove her to the precinct, once there she was questioned at length, by two officers. Above all she kept a diary that had the locations of the brothels and showed them books of matches from the casinos where she was also forced to work. The officers phoned immigration and the airlines and found that her story checked out. In the end, she led officers to the brothel to save her