Los Angeles, Calif., Jan 30, 2017 / 13:12 pm
"I knew my life wasn't normal," Duñia Zelaya said of her childhood. She vividly remembers the night her mother and stepfather dressed her in strange clothes and did her makeup before driving her to a bar to work as a sex slave. She can't remember her age, but she was probably 7.
Her mother gave her a drink to "give her courage." Her two sisters, who were older though still minors, were dropped off first and then she was left at a bar where a man was waiting for her.
On Jan. 14, Zelaya shared her story during the L.A. Freedom Walk at Blessed Sacrament Church in Los Angeles. She finally left the life of prostitution three years ago.
Born into poverty and living as the child of immigrants, Zelaya endured the misery of prostitution for years. She was hungry for real love. "I noticed how all the other kids, their parents used to hug them and kiss them and I use to say, 'I want that,'" she recalled.