The Cobra & the Concubine (Khamsin Warriors of the Wind) (41 page)

The necklaces of Princess Meret, along with other fantastic finds of jewelry, were actually discovered at the pyramid of Senusret III by Jacques de Morgan during the 1894–1895 digging season in Egypt. I used artistic license to weave a legend about the two necklaces and their power to enslave.

Unfortunately, the basis for Badra’s slavery is all too real. Slavery still exists in the modern world. In the Sudan, women and children are frequently sold into slavery. I became personally acquainted with the horrors of slavery while traveling in Haiti and meeting former
restaveks
.
Restaveks
are Haitian children who become enslaved when they are given by an impoverished parent to a family who promises to care for the child with food, clothing and schooling, in exchange for domestic labor. Few of those promises are fulfilled and frequently the
restavek
child works long hours and is subject to beatings and sometimes sexual abuse.

Human trafficking even exists today in the United States. A 2004 report by the U.S. Department of Justice said more than 17,000 people are brought illegally to the United States annually to work in sweatshops, in domestic servitude or as prostitutes.