Toni's story

Toni from Jamaica is a survivor of domestic servitude who has been supported by The Salvation Army’s London Outreach service for the past two years and is now back able to use her culinary talents with a job in a 5-star hotel kitchen.  

Toni was brought up in Jamaica. She went to school and qualified from college in culinary arts. She found work in hotels and managed to earn enough to build her own home and buy a car. She played basketball at a high level which allowed her to travel. 

However, Toni was keeping a dangerous secret. Homosexuality was not tolerated by her community or even her family who held very extreme views. Toni had no option but to hide her true identity as a gay woman.

“I always knew that I was different but I had to live by their rules. They expected me to get an education, a job, a house, a husband and kids. I had to pretend I was someone I wasn’t. To keep people from suspecting, I would dress in feminine clothes, even though it wasn’t me at all. I found it hard adapting to society and had to manoeuvre around my sexuality.”

Despite her precautions, people began to speculate, and suspicions grew that Toni was gay. She was subjected to verbal and then physical abuse. She was chased and assaulted with a broken bottle one night. Then she suffered a knife attack and had to run for her life through the cane fields, only returning to her home under cover of darkness. The police weren’t interested in her story and Toni was tired of living in fear.  

When visiting England for a family funeral, Toni met and fell in love with a woman who sold her the dream of escaping to a country where she could live without prejudice.  

“She told me that in England I could be myself and not have to hide my sexuality. She made me feel comfortable. I thought I was falling in love with her. I wanted the life she was describing. I wanted to be allowed to be me.”

The woman visited Toni in Jamaica and, shocked to see how she was living, kept trying to persuade her to move to England to live with her. Secretly Toni started to put things in place to leave. She sold her house and her car, resigned from her job, and bought an air ticket. On the woman’s advice, she called her family to tell them she was leaving and that she was gay.  

“When I told [my father] he went mad and shouted ‘You bring shame to this family. I will kill you. I will chop you up and feed your body to the sharks so no one will know you have gone.’ I believed him.”

Toni cried for hours on the flight to London but tried to keep the niggling doubts about her decision at bay. She soon settled into her new life. She used the money from selling her property to live while her friend took all her documents and promised to sort permissions for Toni to work and be independent.

When her money began to run low, the woman’s attitude changed. Toni was made to sleep on the floor and forced to do housework for hours on end. She even cooked all the food but wasn’t allowed to eat more than the odd mouthful.

Locked in the house Toni began to realise that she had been controlled from the moment she arrived. The woman had never allowed her to go out on her own and told her not to speak in public, supposedly for her own safety. Then the threats began.

Eventually Toni confronted the woman and they argued badly. Toni was thrown out of the house with just the clothes she was wearing and two small bags.

Toni endured two years of being homeless; surviving from food handouts given by passer-by; sleeping in parks; running from threats and propositions from drunk men. She slept in a park where a woman, called Sharon would regularly come to exercise or play with her daughter. When Sharon showed her kindness and offered her food and even the chance of a bath, Toni remained suspicious.  

“I wondered ‘Could this be another trap?” But then when I’d had enough of starving and being cold and dirty and was even thinking about ending my life, I gave in and accepted her help.”

Sharon linked Toni to a local agency and a solicitor started the process of explaining her situation to the authorities – something Toni thought her abuser had done years earlier.  

“When I was first told I’d been a victim of modern slavery I was so shocked and overwhelmed I just broke down and went off to be by myself for a while.”

Toni was told that The Salvation Army would help her rebuild her life. “At first I was hesitant to accept help from anyone, and frightened that a Christian organisation might judge me because of my sexuality. I couldn’t have been more wrong. From the moment The Salvation Army came into my life everything started to get better and better.”

Toni’s support workers spent time with her, playing basketball together to put Toni at ease and supporting her to gradually become more independent. “My lovely, lovely support workers. Every time I spoke to them I got a sense of reassurance and comfort. I could tell they were genuinely trying to help me and not just because it was a job but because they wanted to. They made me feel like there’s hope. Always there for me when I need them and checking in with me. They have been my rock and went above and beyond in the support they give to me”

They linked her up LGBT groups and accompanied her to important appointments like interviews at the Home Office about her refugee status. They helped her enrol in college for culinary skills courses where she excelled. Within weeks of receiving her refugee status which allowed her to work, Toni was snapped up by a 5-star hotel to work in its Michelin starred restaurant.  

“I couldn’t even have afforded to do the course if The Salvation Army hadn’t funded my course books; chef’s uniform and knife set. And now I’ve got the chance for a new future with this job.”  

Toni has her own flat and is still in touch with the lady who helped her when she was living in the park. She told us: “I’m 100% myself now I’m over the moon happy.”

* the name and identity of the individual has been changed to protect their privacy