It’s something we often think of as happening somewhere else, but little do people in America realize that a new form of slavery has arisen in America.  Yet, child trafficking is alive in the United States, but it garners little discussion.  Rukmini Callimachi at the AP has recently written an article chronicling the experience of a former child slave who was brought from Egypt to work for an Egyptian family in California.

The trafficking of children for domestic labor in the U.S. is an extension of an illegal but common practice in Africa. Families in remote villages send their daughters to work in cities for extra money and the opportunity to escape a dead-end life. Some girls work for free on the understanding that they will at least be better fed in the home of their employer.

The problem with the perception that the people forcing children into servitude have is that, whatever the child’s life was before, slavery is slavery.

The custom has led to the spread of trafficking, as well-to-do Africans accustomed to employing children immigrate to the U.S. Around one-third of the estimated 10,000 forced laborers in the United States are servants trapped behind the curtains of suburban homes, according to a study by the National Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley and Free the Slaves, a nonprofit group. No one can say how many are children, especially since their work can so easily be masked as chores.

Once behind the walls of gated communities like this one, these children never go to school. Unbeknownst to their neighbors, they live as modern-day slaves, just like Shyima, whose story is pieced together through court records, police transcripts and interviews.

Basically, nobody is doing anything, because nobody knows who these childen are.  And they’re not talking, apparently because many think it’s normal.

It never occurred to her to run away.

“I thought this was normal,” she said.

I don’t think it takes much reading of the article to see what’s going on here.  I’m inclined to agree with commenters at Ed Morrissey’s blog post on the article who say it’s not so much of an African problem as it is one of religion - in particular, Islam.  Callimachi chose his words carefully, but all the countries mentioned in his article - Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon - all have significant Muslim populations.

If this is a wider problem on the African continent, let me know, but where then are the reports of this coming from Benin, Congo, Liberia or elsewhere?  So without clarification, that leaves a particularly conservative following of Islam as a result.  One that allows for this type of servitude because it’s seen as normal.  If you listen to the interview with Shyima, she says she saw it all the time in Egypt.  And even if it’s not Islam per se, it definitely comes from a society that has been influenced by it.

Look, I’m not going to tell somebody how to run their country, but when you move here, it’s good to know which values to follow.  The ones saying “no child labor” are pretty non-negotiable in my book.  Because of this slavery, Shyima was denied educational opportunities for many years, in addition to the lack of learning during her first years in poverty in Egypt.  These things are not something any child should have to deal with, and although law enforcement should be commended for finding cases where they can, it’s too bad more can’t be done, except by vigilance.

Too bad the couple don’t seem to have gotten the hint, even after a stint in jail and deportation:

EPILOGUE: On a recent afternoon in Cairo, Madame Amal walked into the lobby of her apartment complex wearing designer sunglasses and a chic scarf.

After nearly two years in a U.S. prison cell, she’s living once more in the spacious apartment where Shyima first worked as her maid. The apartment is adorned in the style of a Louis XIV palace, with ornately carved settees, gold-leaf vases and life-sized portraits of her and her husband.

She did not agree to be interviewed for this story.

Before the door closed behind her, a little girl slipped in carrying grocery bags. She wore a shabby T-shirt. Her small feet slapped the floor in loose flip-flops. Her eyes were trained on the ground.

She looked to be around 9 years old.