What do you think?
Rate this book
I Am Not Your Slave: A Memoir
I am Not Your Slave is the shocking true story of a young African girl, Tupa, who was abducted from southwestern Africa and funneled through an extensive yet almost completely unknown human trafficking network spanning the entire African continent. As she is transported from the point of her abduction on a remote farm near the Namibian-Angolan border and channeled to her ultimate destination in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, her three-year odyssey exposes the brutal horrors of a modern day middle passage. During her ordeal, Tupa encounters members of Africa’s notorious gangs, terrifying witchdoctors, mysterious middlemen from China, corrupt police and border officials, Arab smugglers and high-ranking United Nations officials. And of course, Tupa meets her fellow trafficking victims, young women and girls from around the world. Tupa’s harrowing experience, including her daring escape and eventual return home, sheds light on the most shocking aspects of modern day slavery, as well as the essential determination to be free.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 7, 2020
21 people are currently reading
1978 people want to read
About the author
Tupa Tjipombo
1 book20 followersTupa Tjipombo is the pseudonym of a Namibian woman who is currently pursuing a college degree in her homeland while volunteering at a shelter for orphaned and vulnerable children.
source: Amazon
source: Amazon
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
Read
December 6, 2021Update This is the most disturbing book I have read in a long time. It's another 10 star, 2 in a row Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive is the other one, also awaiting a proper review. It seems that among the diplomatic and governments of Sudan and Dubai, slavery is alive and well, and girls can be ordered by nationality, looks etc. This is greatly supported by the United Nations personnel in charge of all sorts of wonderful charitable projects, writing home to their wives about missing them. One brothel is even called the United Nations Brothel.
So all you people falling for the cheap package holidays in Dubai, the glamour and glitz the 'influencers' portray, when you go there and see the pretty girls in the nightclubs from Iran and Russia, they are quite likely high-priced prostitutes, and when you see the ones from Sudan, Ethiopia and other third world countries, they are quite likely slaves or the next worst thing - recruited at $150 a month to be maids, paid at $20 a month - the rest for 'expenses' and the 'recruitment agency'. No passport, not allowed out of the premises, owned and with no say in who fucks them, beats them, whips them or anything else, 'just smile'.
Indian men, construction workers, commit suicide from their terrible working conditions, quite unlike those in their contracts as they all sign new ones written in Arabic when they arrive in Dubai, kill themselves in such numbers, that the Indian embassy has set up a suicide hotline, whether for help or reporting, I'm not sure.
Proper review with quotes to come. This book has really, really disturbed me. It was published in 2020 when the author who had been kidnapped and enslaved for two years was still only 19.
__________
As soon as I read the author was 17 and in Sudan, I thought back on to Mende Nazer enslaved from Sudan to a house half a mile or so from my house. Slave: The True Story of a Girl's Lost Childhood and Her FIght for Survival Although there is no connection befween us in reality, the fact I walked past her everyday and didn't know and so couldn't do anything, really impacted me, and this book is having the same effect.
So all you people falling for the cheap package holidays in Dubai, the glamour and glitz the 'influencers' portray, when you go there and see the pretty girls in the nightclubs from Iran and Russia, they are quite likely high-priced prostitutes, and when you see the ones from Sudan, Ethiopia and other third world countries, they are quite likely slaves or the next worst thing - recruited at $150 a month to be maids, paid at $20 a month - the rest for 'expenses' and the 'recruitment agency'. No passport, not allowed out of the premises, owned and with no say in who fucks them, beats them, whips them or anything else, 'just smile'.
Indian men, construction workers, commit suicide from their terrible working conditions, quite unlike those in their contracts as they all sign new ones written in Arabic when they arrive in Dubai, kill themselves in such numbers, that the Indian embassy has set up a suicide hotline, whether for help or reporting, I'm not sure.
Proper review with quotes to come. This book has really, really disturbed me. It was published in 2020 when the author who had been kidnapped and enslaved for two years was still only 19.
__________
As soon as I read the author was 17 and in Sudan, I thought back on to Mende Nazer enslaved from Sudan to a house half a mile or so from my house. Slave: The True Story of a Girl's Lost Childhood and Her FIght for Survival Although there is no connection befween us in reality, the fact I walked past her everyday and didn't know and so couldn't do anything, really impacted me, and this book is having the same effect.
February 1, 2020
This is a horrendously brutal read. One other non-fiction book upon the Ocean Outlaws and this book were the two worst situational horrors I've read in the last 10 years. And as I read a lot and many memoirs too, that is saying something. I've read three or 4 this last year on the slave trade. This one is the worst case, most horrific to read.
It's in perfect English. Her personality just shines through. She's wicked smart and also brave as hell. But it did her little good overall, IMHO.
Only read this if you have a thick skin. I do. She is exact on detail, placements, modes of transport, all the minutia. Down to slitting necks, mutilation both before and after death, branding, beatings, being raped by 15 to 25 men a day. Girls who can no longer stand because their leg muscles have been destroyed etc.
I couldn't put it down. I have always been aware of the Southern Sudan and current civil war economy purposes. It's been done all the way down to South Africa for decades. But these "28" and other groups she details!! I hope she has an armed guard for the rest of her life.
This entails about 7 or 8 countries' onus for description of the physical and work worlds. It's often places where witch doctors are coupled with the armies/ gangs/ thugs for profits. And the worst proponents are often not African themselves(but most are)- but are Chinese operating with even higher bosses out of the Chinese mainland. Regardless the soldiers and networks are African of maybe 8 to 10 language groups. It's a big network- both in numbers and in money economics for the larger areas. There are also numerous Arab men who coupled with the drug transports work in this whole continent system.
Tupa comes from a cattle keeping tribe (Himba), very peaceful, from South Africa. Her father took her into Southern Angola to trade / sell cattle. For decades there has been a great crux difference between the country and the city people. Even of the same tribes. There are many languages, countries, mores, individuals involved in all these experiences she had.
The bus full of traded children with great handicaps was another whole issue in her story. I've heard of the begging and sex slave trades but never to this detail of how they operate.
When I hear people virtue signaling about language or some ridiculous complaint about their electric, a.c. and heated for comfort lives- I'm going to think of this book. Her three year ordeal is beyond my ability to describe.
And I thought the Congo was the worst. No, it's not that local.
Tupa has a gift for languages. You can tell, even if she did have help. What an incredible person she is. Tupa states she is a Namibian woman in truth, but that Tupa Tjipombo is a pseudonym nomenclature. I'm sure she has to be undercover for the rest of her life. She currently attends college while being a seamstress. Chris Lockhart is the helping author. She currently lives in Nambia.
It's in perfect English. Her personality just shines through. She's wicked smart and also brave as hell. But it did her little good overall, IMHO.
Only read this if you have a thick skin. I do. She is exact on detail, placements, modes of transport, all the minutia. Down to slitting necks, mutilation both before and after death, branding, beatings, being raped by 15 to 25 men a day. Girls who can no longer stand because their leg muscles have been destroyed etc.
I couldn't put it down. I have always been aware of the Southern Sudan and current civil war economy purposes. It's been done all the way down to South Africa for decades. But these "28" and other groups she details!! I hope she has an armed guard for the rest of her life.
This entails about 7 or 8 countries' onus for description of the physical and work worlds. It's often places where witch doctors are coupled with the armies/ gangs/ thugs for profits. And the worst proponents are often not African themselves(but most are)- but are Chinese operating with even higher bosses out of the Chinese mainland. Regardless the soldiers and networks are African of maybe 8 to 10 language groups. It's a big network- both in numbers and in money economics for the larger areas. There are also numerous Arab men who coupled with the drug transports work in this whole continent system.
Tupa comes from a cattle keeping tribe (Himba), very peaceful, from South Africa. Her father took her into Southern Angola to trade / sell cattle. For decades there has been a great crux difference between the country and the city people. Even of the same tribes. There are many languages, countries, mores, individuals involved in all these experiences she had.
The bus full of traded children with great handicaps was another whole issue in her story. I've heard of the begging and sex slave trades but never to this detail of how they operate.
When I hear people virtue signaling about language or some ridiculous complaint about their electric, a.c. and heated for comfort lives- I'm going to think of this book. Her three year ordeal is beyond my ability to describe.
And I thought the Congo was the worst. No, it's not that local.
Tupa has a gift for languages. You can tell, even if she did have help. What an incredible person she is. Tupa states she is a Namibian woman in truth, but that Tupa Tjipombo is a pseudonym nomenclature. I'm sure she has to be undercover for the rest of her life. She currently attends college while being a seamstress. Chris Lockhart is the helping author. She currently lives in Nambia.
January 7, 2020
Wow. Just unbelievable!
I have goosebumps.
Watching the chain of events in Tupa's story just makes me shake my head. It makes me furious. This all began because of the World Wildlife Conservancy in Namibia. Sure, we want to protect the wildlife and save the endangered species, but it is because of them a farmer could not bring his herd to a watering hole during a major drought. They turned him away. The cattle could not drink or eat, so the farmer's brother (greedy little bastard) hooks him up with some stranger to sell his cattle in Angola.
Because the farmer doesn't know the way of the world, the buyer has 4 cows stolen. When Tupa's brothers go looking for the cattle, they go missing. The buyer demands that the matter of the 4 missing cows be rectified by giving him the farmer's daughter. The farmer has no choice but to give him his daughter to work off the debt of the 4 missing cows.
Now, any person would have seen this as...but what does it matter that 4 cows are missing? The buyer hasn't even paid for any of the cows yet. The farmer was swindled out of his daughter. The cows don't mean anything to the buyer.
This begins Tupa's horrible journey into human trafficking...all because the World Wildlife Conservancy needs to take over the watering hole so that tourists can see the animals. LET THAT SINK IN.
Her ultimate destination is Dubai. This rich buyer collects women. He decided one day he wanted a himba woman. Through this vast network of the slave trade, he was able to secure a himba woman from Namibia.
In Dubai, most of the time, she worked as a domestic for the family. But she was really there to be a sex slave for the many exclusive parties the Jackal threw for humanitarians and people from the United Nation's humanitarian mission. She was repeatedly raped and tortured during her enslavement.
The fact that the men committing these atrocities are humanitarians, people who work for the United Nations and the World Food Program...I mean...WTF!!!!!!
I really hope that the media and news agencies get a hold of this book and start investigating this. When I Googled the World Food Program, I found out that these men that are high up in the UN and World Food Program have sexual abuse and harassment complaints against them from numerous members of staff all around the world. They weren't just doing this to the trafficked girls. They were doing this to female staff members. Numerous acts of rape.
Tupa went through so much, my heart just broke for her. I kept wondering if she would ever find that light out of that dark tunnel. Considering there's a book, I kept telling myself, I guess she did.
This is something I want to leave in this review that echoes why women need to step up and stop this.
"If we are to survive...then the women must participate like never before. We must unite and let our voices be heard...whatever we do, we must do it from the innermost circle out. Then we do it our way, from our strengths, and in a way that preserves our traditions. Otherwise, bad things happen.
"The closest circles around her-those of family and village and tribe-they were smashed and broken because our women have not participated in those larger circles. We have been silent. This must change, but it must do some from here, from the innermost circle out."
I have goosebumps.
Watching the chain of events in Tupa's story just makes me shake my head. It makes me furious. This all began because of the World Wildlife Conservancy in Namibia. Sure, we want to protect the wildlife and save the endangered species, but it is because of them a farmer could not bring his herd to a watering hole during a major drought. They turned him away. The cattle could not drink or eat, so the farmer's brother (greedy little bastard) hooks him up with some stranger to sell his cattle in Angola.
Because the farmer doesn't know the way of the world, the buyer has 4 cows stolen. When Tupa's brothers go looking for the cattle, they go missing. The buyer demands that the matter of the 4 missing cows be rectified by giving him the farmer's daughter. The farmer has no choice but to give him his daughter to work off the debt of the 4 missing cows.
Now, any person would have seen this as...but what does it matter that 4 cows are missing? The buyer hasn't even paid for any of the cows yet. The farmer was swindled out of his daughter. The cows don't mean anything to the buyer.
This begins Tupa's horrible journey into human trafficking...all because the World Wildlife Conservancy needs to take over the watering hole so that tourists can see the animals. LET THAT SINK IN.
Her ultimate destination is Dubai. This rich buyer collects women. He decided one day he wanted a himba woman. Through this vast network of the slave trade, he was able to secure a himba woman from Namibia.
In Dubai, most of the time, she worked as a domestic for the family. But she was really there to be a sex slave for the many exclusive parties the Jackal threw for humanitarians and people from the United Nation's humanitarian mission. She was repeatedly raped and tortured during her enslavement.
The fact that the men committing these atrocities are humanitarians, people who work for the United Nations and the World Food Program...I mean...WTF!!!!!!
I really hope that the media and news agencies get a hold of this book and start investigating this. When I Googled the World Food Program, I found out that these men that are high up in the UN and World Food Program have sexual abuse and harassment complaints against them from numerous members of staff all around the world. They weren't just doing this to the trafficked girls. They were doing this to female staff members. Numerous acts of rape.
Tupa went through so much, my heart just broke for her. I kept wondering if she would ever find that light out of that dark tunnel. Considering there's a book, I kept telling myself, I guess she did.
This is something I want to leave in this review that echoes why women need to step up and stop this.
"If we are to survive...then the women must participate like never before. We must unite and let our voices be heard...whatever we do, we must do it from the innermost circle out. Then we do it our way, from our strengths, and in a way that preserves our traditions. Otherwise, bad things happen.
"The closest circles around her-those of family and village and tribe-they were smashed and broken because our women have not participated in those larger circles. We have been silent. This must change, but it must do some from here, from the innermost circle out."
January 15, 2024
What a brutal read. If reading this made me flinch, can you imagine living this? It's not fiction. I can't really write a 'review' about someone's life story - this isn't one.
I read this shocked. I read this appalled. I can't believe what Tupa endured. I have been to Dubai, seen the glitz and glamor, and Tupa shows us something entirely different. This is a Dubai we need to see too. Human trafficking is a curse - and one that won't go away soon. We need to hear more stories from people like Tupa - the ones who somehow flee that curse.
I read this shocked. I read this appalled. I can't believe what Tupa endured. I have been to Dubai, seen the glitz and glamor, and Tupa shows us something entirely different. This is a Dubai we need to see too. Human trafficking is a curse - and one that won't go away soon. We need to hear more stories from people like Tupa - the ones who somehow flee that curse.
May 16, 2020
Courage to Shine the Light on Evil and Fight for Freedom
OUTSTANDING!!! Highly recommend this book even though there are nightmarish scenes to confront that at times left me almost shaking. I have known about the horrific, mostly hidden, crime of human trafficking for over a decade but never read or heard about evil like what Tupa endured.
Even more appalling was the fact that the men at the final destination were supposed to be the very humanitarians (from the US and elsewhere) helping to protect human rights! This crime needs to be deeply investigated to get to the source and JUSTICE needs to be served no matter the person’s high level, powerful, public position. As Martin Luther King said back in the early 1960s, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The book is so well written it is like you are there. I could not put it down. The way Chris Lockhart described things brought so many perceptions to life almost to the cellular level. By the end of the book, I had no doubt I was standing in Tupa’s expanded circle.
Tupa Tjipombo and Chris Lockhart, have inspired me to do even more in the fight for Universal Human Rights. NO ONE should ever go through anything like this. Human Trafficking--Slavery, in all its forms, needs to truly come to an end in the United States and everywhere around the world. ENOUGH!!
Tupa is a true hero! Her strength, courage, fight for freedom, and pure greatness are an inspiration for all human beings--especially women. Let’s join together with her and put an END to this atrocity called modern day slavery.
If you have any desire to help create a fair and free world, read this book, increase your awareness, be inspired, take action!!
OUTSTANDING!!! Highly recommend this book even though there are nightmarish scenes to confront that at times left me almost shaking. I have known about the horrific, mostly hidden, crime of human trafficking for over a decade but never read or heard about evil like what Tupa endured.
Even more appalling was the fact that the men at the final destination were supposed to be the very humanitarians (from the US and elsewhere) helping to protect human rights! This crime needs to be deeply investigated to get to the source and JUSTICE needs to be served no matter the person’s high level, powerful, public position. As Martin Luther King said back in the early 1960s, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The book is so well written it is like you are there. I could not put it down. The way Chris Lockhart described things brought so many perceptions to life almost to the cellular level. By the end of the book, I had no doubt I was standing in Tupa’s expanded circle.
Tupa Tjipombo and Chris Lockhart, have inspired me to do even more in the fight for Universal Human Rights. NO ONE should ever go through anything like this. Human Trafficking--Slavery, in all its forms, needs to truly come to an end in the United States and everywhere around the world. ENOUGH!!
Tupa is a true hero! Her strength, courage, fight for freedom, and pure greatness are an inspiration for all human beings--especially women. Let’s join together with her and put an END to this atrocity called modern day slavery.
If you have any desire to help create a fair and free world, read this book, increase your awareness, be inspired, take action!!
January 21, 2020
Dear President Trump,
For goodness sake, please defund the UN now. This book is only the most recent evidence of the corruption, cruelty and depravity that runs rampant in the United Nations. What a DISGUSTING organization, filled with self-important hypocrites! Defund now! Withdraw from the UN!
THANKS TO THE AUTHOR FOR FURTHER EXPOSING THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THE UNITED NATIONS!
For goodness sake, please defund the UN now. This book is only the most recent evidence of the corruption, cruelty and depravity that runs rampant in the United Nations. What a DISGUSTING organization, filled with self-important hypocrites! Defund now! Withdraw from the UN!
THANKS TO THE AUTHOR FOR FURTHER EXPOSING THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THE UNITED NATIONS!
May 23, 2020
Wow. Just WOW! This was such a terrifying and horrific memoir! I always thought of myself as strong but my strength does not even begin to come close to all that Tupa endured in her fight to survive. This was such a heartbreaking story, but holy moly, an amazing read!
March 24, 2022
As Piece of Cake, this is a powerful account of horrible evil, told in a way that makes it possible to read without just breaking down.
May 25, 2025
An excellent, but gut-wrenching memoir. Hard to believe human slavery is still thriving.
Read
December 10, 2019There are unspeakable acts of depravity and cruelty in the memoir I Am Not Your Slave (Lawrence Hill Books) by Tupa Tjipombo and Chris Lockhart. It is hard to read, harder yet to believe that there are men in this world who can be so sadistic, so bestial, women who aid and abet them, and victims who are strong enough to endure the torture and degradation.
Here in the unforgiving vastness of wind-swept and drought-ravaged South Africa, hip-hop music blares from the open windows of dusty SUVs, hippos lumber through villages, poisonous snakes slither through the grass, and people scratch a living out of the dirt. They live in constant fear of crocodiles and leopards, witchcraft, starvation, and tribal violence; yet there is love and hope and the unshakable will to survive.
Tupa Tjipombo is the pseudonym of a Namibian woman whose childhood is the stuff of unthinkable nightmares. Banished from her village because of an accusation of witchcraft, Tupa is sent to live with an uncle in the city of Opuwo where she can go to school, but her dreams of a better life are quashed when she is summoned home to help her family survive a crippling drought.
The rest of the review: https://booktrib.com/2019/12/i-am-not...
Here in the unforgiving vastness of wind-swept and drought-ravaged South Africa, hip-hop music blares from the open windows of dusty SUVs, hippos lumber through villages, poisonous snakes slither through the grass, and people scratch a living out of the dirt. They live in constant fear of crocodiles and leopards, witchcraft, starvation, and tribal violence; yet there is love and hope and the unshakable will to survive.
Tupa Tjipombo is the pseudonym of a Namibian woman whose childhood is the stuff of unthinkable nightmares. Banished from her village because of an accusation of witchcraft, Tupa is sent to live with an uncle in the city of Opuwo where she can go to school, but her dreams of a better life are quashed when she is summoned home to help her family survive a crippling drought.
The rest of the review: https://booktrib.com/2019/12/i-am-not...
April 18, 2020
I am Not Your Slave is the shocking true story of a young African girl, Tupa, who was abducted from southwestern Africa and funneled through an extensive yet almost completely unknown human trafficking network spanning the entire African continent. As she is transported from the point of her abduction on a remote farm near the Namibian-Angolan border and channeled to her ultimate destination in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, her three-year odyssey exposes the brutal horrors of a modern day middle passage. During her ordeal, Tupa encounters members of Africa’s notorious gangs, terrifying witchdoctors, mysterious middlemen from China, corrupt police and border officials, Arab smugglers and high-ranking United Nations officials. And of course, Tupa meets her fellow trafficking victims, young women and girls from around the world. Tupa’s harrowing experience, including her daring escape and eventual return home, sheds light on the most shocking aspects of modern day slavery, as well as the essential determination to be free.
May 20, 2020
The shocking true story of a young African girl, Tupa, who was abducted from southwestern Africa and funneled through an extensive yet almost completely unknown human trafficking network spanning the entire African continent.
•
Wow this was a harrowing and difficult read. I havent read anything like this that wasn't fiction, so knowing it was something that someone really lived through made it that much more of a terrifying reading experience. Tupa is smart and unbelievably brave! I admire her for writing her story, and bringing more attention to human trafficking.
•
I don't know if enjoy is the right word to describe my reading experience here but I am glad I read Tupa's horrendous journey.
•
Thank You to the publisher for sending me this book opinions are my own.
•
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
•
Wow this was a harrowing and difficult read. I havent read anything like this that wasn't fiction, so knowing it was something that someone really lived through made it that much more of a terrifying reading experience. Tupa is smart and unbelievably brave! I admire her for writing her story, and bringing more attention to human trafficking.
•
I don't know if enjoy is the right word to describe my reading experience here but I am glad I read Tupa's horrendous journey.
•
Thank You to the publisher for sending me this book opinions are my own.
•
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
October 12, 2020
I had to remind myself several times that this was a true story because of how awful Tupa was treated. Great memoir
January 30, 2021
Immensely harrowing
June 2, 2022
Really disturbing but incredibly important read about human trafficking. Highly recommended!
I'm hoping that all of the details prove true (no embellishments or invented 'facts' by the co-authors), that it receives a much wider readership, and that a documentary or Netflix series is made out of this memoir to increase awareness about this issue.
Just easier for me to include a few links to reviews that I agree with:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/i-...
I Am Not Your Slave: A Memoir ** Read in Windhoek, Namibia and Luanda, Angola (May 2022)
I'm hoping that all of the details prove true (no embellishments or invented 'facts' by the co-authors), that it receives a much wider readership, and that a documentary or Netflix series is made out of this memoir to increase awareness about this issue.
Just easier for me to include a few links to reviews that I agree with:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/i-...
I Am Not Your Slave: A Memoir ** Read in Windhoek, Namibia and Luanda, Angola (May 2022)
October 26, 2025
harrowing and emotive, a story so unreal yet so raw it’s almost impossible to believe it’s a true story. the ending nearly made me cry when tupa is reflecting on her ordeal and finding community back in her home country. 4.75 stars.
January 29, 2021
This narrative shows that abject human slavery is not a thing of the past, but is present today & that no place on Earth is too remote for its tentacles. This story happens in the mid-2010s. Tupa, a dutiful 16 year old herder's daughter, tells how a super rich mogul in Abu Dhabi needing to add diversity to his stable of sex objects to satisfy the lusts of his international peers & clients can "special order" a girl from the Himbe tribe in Namibia. A father, facing starvation as his family cows die of thirst due to chronic drought consents to contracting his daughter for 1 year to work as a domestic to local city family. That decision triggers a well oiled, international human trafficking ring to start a smuggling operation involving hundreds of people, trucks & ships, computer profiles to confirm buyer satisfaction with the product, bribing border officials in a dozen nations, the murder of "freedom fighters" who declare ownership of the cargo in Southern Sudan and Tupa's being subjected to untold number of rapes & other abuses. Once in Abu Dhabi, she becomes a domestic worker to an elite family that owns her fake travel documents & works her 16 hours a day imprisoning her in their compound. Eventually, after passing AIDS & pregnancy testing, she begins training for her real duties, satisfying the sexual kink of her owner. When he tires of her & explores the sexual gifts of his next sex slave, she becomes one of his "united nations of women available to satisfy the sexual needs of her owner's business associates, mostly White high ranking United Nations officials. Fate, cunning and nerve all come together to enable her escape. From the well honed infrastructure established throughout Africa & the Middle East and from the community of girls she encounters during her escape, this is a big-time operation. Human trafficking is alive & well today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2021
This memoir describes more than three years of pain and travail that followed Tupa Tjipombo's abduction at age 17, and her sale to a series of human traffickers. In a torturous journey from Angola, across Africa to the United Arab Emirates, Tupa was repeatedly starved, beaten, and brutally raped. The most horrifying part of her story took place in Dubai, where she was enslaved by a wealthy Arab man who called himself "the Jackal" who enjoyed showing off and sharing his "harem" with wealthy men from around the world, many of who, I was stunned to learn, were highly placed officials in the United Nations Humanitarian Aid sector. Visions of Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew Windsor, and Donald Trump came to mind as I read her descriptions of the Jackal's "special events" which often featured girls as young as thirteen who had been forced into this life of "high end" prostitution. A painful read, Tupa's memoir offers a horrific glimpse into the real evil that lurks in the hearts even of some who appear to live good lives working to help others and resolve international crises resulting from wars, famine, and disease.
April 24, 2021
This book is an important read especially to help people learn of the realities of human trafficking and how it remains rampant even as we speak. That being said, it is painful to consume, that humans can be so absolutely cruel to one another. Incredible that she made it out alive. This one was tough. Proceed accordingly.
February 4, 2023
Harrowing story of Tupa (an alias), a Namibian woman, who was sold by her father into something like indentured servitude, but was immediately sent on an incredible journey where she ended up in Dubai. This is the modern story of human sex trafficking.
In her story, a very rich man in Dubai collects women from around the world to be his sex slaves and to throw wild orgies. To get her from southern Africa to Dubai, she was trafficked across the continent, raped countless times, and put through an elaborate ceremony where she was told she was bound to her kidnappers and could never escape (some sort of evil witch ceremony).
These orgies in Dubai are apparently well attended by high status individuals at the UN, among other places. She is raped by an American from Virginia who works at the UN. She ends up stealing his phone and using it to blackmail him into getting her on a UN food plane to Ethiopia.
This story is completely brutal. But it is so important for the world to realize things like this are happening. This reminded me of the somewhat similar story of Nadia Murad. It's (naively) hard for me to believe this can happen, that so many people can be involved and not stop this. But it does, and I wish I knew things would get better over time, but I'm not sure it will.
In her story, a very rich man in Dubai collects women from around the world to be his sex slaves and to throw wild orgies. To get her from southern Africa to Dubai, she was trafficked across the continent, raped countless times, and put through an elaborate ceremony where she was told she was bound to her kidnappers and could never escape (some sort of evil witch ceremony).
These orgies in Dubai are apparently well attended by high status individuals at the UN, among other places. She is raped by an American from Virginia who works at the UN. She ends up stealing his phone and using it to blackmail him into getting her on a UN food plane to Ethiopia.
This story is completely brutal. But it is so important for the world to realize things like this are happening. This reminded me of the somewhat similar story of Nadia Murad. It's (naively) hard for me to believe this can happen, that so many people can be involved and not stop this. But it does, and I wish I knew things would get better over time, but I'm not sure it will.
January 18, 2025
Memoir.
EVERY TRIGGER WARNING!!
Namibia, Africa.
Tupa is 13 years old. Her father has multiple wives, so when a doctor accuses her mother of being a witch (she’s not) she and her mom flee so her mom isn’t murdered.
The World Wildlife Conservancy in Namibia wanted tourists to see wild animals, so they banned Indigenous Namibians from watering their cows at the watering hole.
Cows dying of thirst, her father forced his 15 year old daughter to return, then sold her.
Tupa became a sex slave in 2007, along with many other girl children.
A government man said they’d be freed if they wrote the names and phone numbers of their families — then instead, brought them to a witch doctor who slit Tupa’s new friend’s throat in front of her — promising to slaughter her family if she tried to run, then branding her with a hot iron.
Tupa was raped and tortured by African gangs, Arab slavers, in China, in Dubai, and by the World Food Program and the UN (United Nations) leaders (which makes sense - we all know the UN has had a long history of that).
In 2007 she fought for survival, she fought for freedom, in 2018 she fought for healing, education, career, and joy - and in 2020, she published this book!
EVERY TRIGGER WARNING!!
Namibia, Africa.
Tupa is 13 years old. Her father has multiple wives, so when a doctor accuses her mother of being a witch (she’s not) she and her mom flee so her mom isn’t murdered.
The World Wildlife Conservancy in Namibia wanted tourists to see wild animals, so they banned Indigenous Namibians from watering their cows at the watering hole.
Cows dying of thirst, her father forced his 15 year old daughter to return, then sold her.
Tupa became a sex slave in 2007, along with many other girl children.
A government man said they’d be freed if they wrote the names and phone numbers of their families — then instead, brought them to a witch doctor who slit Tupa’s new friend’s throat in front of her — promising to slaughter her family if she tried to run, then branding her with a hot iron.
Tupa was raped and tortured by African gangs, Arab slavers, in China, in Dubai, and by the World Food Program and the UN (United Nations) leaders (which makes sense - we all know the UN has had a long history of that).
In 2007 she fought for survival, she fought for freedom, in 2018 she fought for healing, education, career, and joy - and in 2020, she published this book!
June 28, 2020
I cried a couple of times while reading this book. I did not have the energy to be angry so I was overcome with sadness. In addition to the central issue of human trafficking, there are so many issues to unpack... like how development organizations carry out development plans without engaging with and including the residents of the regions they are trying to develop; how much evil there is in this world; how important it is for women to stand together and speak up because it is so naive of us to think men are always looking out for us; how much evil there is in this world; how many Africans have lost the importance of community and family because we are so consumed with pursuits that leave us empty. This book is such an important read. It creates a whole new level of awareness. Everyone should read this.
March 31, 2020
This an enlightening book about what it is like to live as a young Namibian girl who lives the sad life of a trafficked girl/woman. Tupa bravely and with brutal honesty shares her experience of being sold into a life of sexual trafficking which she discovers is very well organized and controlled from rich and far away places from where she is originally caught up. She is transported and abused widely over much of the continent of Africa and even into Dubai. She exposes how common it is and how people who profess to be good people appear to be blind to it and take advantage of the people who are trafficked. I liked the opportunity to hear from a survivor how this system works and is allowed to continue, and to get an understanding of her beliefs, colored by her Himba heritage.
March 8, 2023
This book is enlightening in so many ways, especially on the abduction and human trafficking business/ring. We have a better understanding of how the system works and the types and number of people are involved in it.
I do not mean to undermine her story in any way. What Tupa has been through is unimaginable and extremely difficult to endure for a woman at such a young age. And it takes a lot to piece oneself together after years of suffering and struggles. And I’m amazed by the strength she displayed at forgiving her father in order to move on with her life. This must have been hard to share for the world to read. I appreciate her courage
However, her voice did not fully reach me. At some point, the story was redundant. Thank you for sharing your story ❤️
I do not mean to undermine her story in any way. What Tupa has been through is unimaginable and extremely difficult to endure for a woman at such a young age. And it takes a lot to piece oneself together after years of suffering and struggles. And I’m amazed by the strength she displayed at forgiving her father in order to move on with her life. This must have been hard to share for the world to read. I appreciate her courage
However, her voice did not fully reach me. At some point, the story was redundant. Thank you for sharing your story ❤️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2020
WOW! Tupa's story is heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. I cannot believe how rampant and far spread the sex trafficking industry is. What this woman went through, nobody should ever have to go through or even worry about the possibility of it happening to them. Her courage is what got her through. Once I started this book I could not put it down and needed to find out what happened to Tupa. While she survived to tell her tale, after reading this I know that is a very rare occurrence for women in these situations. I encourage everyone to read this as it will open your eyes to unimaginable things happening in our world today.
Read
June 17, 2020Excellent,if horrible subjects can be thought of as excellent. This horrific story deals with trafficking, an insidious and horrible condition in our world today; The writer's life is filled with a swamp of stories of abuse, along with an incredible spirit. She survives this ordeal, but leaves the reader's heart etched with sorrow, and forever aware (a good thing) that trafficking is alive and well in this day and age. I think we all must be aware of the exigencies of our day, and the earth is in spillage and horror on so many levels. I think this is an important book; we must always be aware.
July 13, 2020
A well-written though harrowing first-person account of sex trafficking in Africa and the Middle East. We first meet the woman whose story is told here when she is just 15; she endures horrible tortures, being kidnapped by one group after another. She never describes the sexual violence done to her, which I think strengthens the book; she merely refers to how vicious or violently she was treated by her various abductors. Fortunately, the book also shows that there are some people (even a man or two) she is able to trust to help her escape. This is an important book; everyone who goes to Dubai and supports what is happening there should be ashamed of themselves.
July 23, 2024
An important story that needs to be told about a young African girl at the time who was abducted, sold and human trafficked all across the entire African continent… as a melds for some lost cattle. Although it’s a saddening story I’m giving it four stars because the first half of the book for very slow and it was rather hand to get into; that I kind of didn’t want to read at all… that and the fact that there was no mention of what happened to these abductors, buyers and ‘owners’ of hers in Dubai or the men that rapped her for that matter. How can numerous groups take her, steal her from other groups etc. with no repercussions?
August 13, 2025
“I Am Not Your Slave* is a powerful memoir about a woman from an African country whose father was tricked into believing he was giving her a better life, by allowing her to work for a family that was better off than his.
Instead, she ended up involved in a horrific situation for years. The author is incredibly insightful, sharing her story in a way that gives you a real sense of her experience without overly gruesome details. She describes working for ultra-wealthy people who treated humans as objects, using them for labor and sex trafficking. It’s a distressing topic, but her bravery and honesty in telling her story make this book both eye-opening and deeply moving
Instead, she ended up involved in a horrific situation for years. The author is incredibly insightful, sharing her story in a way that gives you a real sense of her experience without overly gruesome details. She describes working for ultra-wealthy people who treated humans as objects, using them for labor and sex trafficking. It’s a distressing topic, but her bravery and honesty in telling her story make this book both eye-opening and deeply moving
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2025
This is a powerful and moving story of one persons fight to survive and escape a human trafficking operation that stretches world-wide. I think she describes the shock and disgust very well - that someone half the world away could simply say “I want X person” and their wish is fulfilled. This story is made up of things you wish are not true, even though a part of you has always known they exist. I am glad that “Tupa” is able to live a happy and fulfilling life after everything she went through Though it is not her responsibility I would love if more stories like this could be shared openly in the hopes of ending at least some of the complacency that money seems to be able to buy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews