Los Angeles (CNN)In
July, Ima Matul got a standing ovation when she spoke at the Democratic
National Convention, broadcast live across the United States. It was a
remarkable achievement. Almost 20 years earlier she had been living as a
domestic slave, trapped in a house in Los Angeles, where she was
threatened, abused and beaten.
Her journey has been an extraordinary one, as inspiring as it is distressing.
Matul
grew up in rural Indonesia in a family of farmers. Aged 17, she was
working as housekeeper when she was offered a job as a nanny in Los
Angeles and promised a salary of $150 a month.
"It sounds like not a lot of money right now, but for me back then, it felt like winning the lottery," recalls Matul
"My
goal when I came to the US in 1997, [was to stay] for two years, and
take my salary to build a house for my family -- and that's it."
Instead, when she arrived in the United States, the woman she was meant to be working for confiscated her passport.
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