MALELANE (South Africa): “I was told I was going to a better life,” recalled nine-year-old Rosallio Nyasoro. Instead, she was lured to South Africa to be sold into domestic service for a mere $50.

Like thousands of other youngsters, Rosallio, who was brought over the border from her homeland of Mozambique two years ago, soon found the promises of a family friend calling herself “auntie” were hollow.

When she arrived on the other side of the porous border into northern South Africa, she was immediately passed on to another woman who took her to a nearby village where she was forced to wash clothes for a large family.

The so-called aunt received $50 for her part in bringing the little girl over the border. Rosallio did not receive a cent for her efforts.

“There were no friends that I could play with there. I had to spend all my time washing clothes,” said Rosallio.

“I never want to go back, I’m happy here now,” she said as she took a break from a game of skipping rope.

It was only after a routine raid by social workers that Rosallio’s life of misery was finally halted. She is now trying to reclaim her childhood at a home run by a charity where she lives with other youngsters -- many of them orphans -- who have been through similar ordeals.

With South Africa’s economy booming, social workers say the phenomenon of people trafficking is becoming increasingly common at the bottom of the world’s poorest continent.—AFP