Tinuola

2018 / ongoing

This is the story of Mary, born on the 2nd of May 1992 in Mushalash, a small town in Lagos State in Nigeria. Her grandmother called her Tinuola, meaning “full of wealth” in the Yoruba language.

After a journey of more than 2.500 miles and endless time, which took her from Lagos to Benin City, then to Kano, Agadez in Niger and finally to the seaport city of Zuara in Libya, she arrived in Sicily in October 2014 and was transferred to Florence shortly afterwards. Following the end of one of the hospitality projects, she was transferred to Chivasso, a small town near Turin in 2017. Mary is a guest of the Mary Poppins association, a non-profit organization that works with trafficked women.

The journey that carries me to Chivasso is much shorter, just a few minutes’ drive from Turin, where I live and work. I turn to Mary Poppins thanks to the advice of a friend who works for the cooperative as an operator. After a series of introductory interviews I met Mary in April 2018.

Time carried me to become her friend. Her white brother. That is what she calls me now when she has to introduce me to her friends.

In 2019, Mary leaves the project and starts a new life. A life not easy and full of difficulties, made of mistakes, steps forward, passions, pain, humiliation. A long bureaucratic path to regularization on Italian ground and the search for a job.

This is a small story about the world around her and her incredible story. It’s the story of our friendship.

Mary poses for a portrait at the Sacra di San Michele, a wonderful place in the province of Turin. A place I absolutely wanted to see because of its strong spirituality. Sant'Ambrogio di Susa, February 2020.

Mary and Kate are preparing for the birthday party of a friend of theirs who is in the Mary Poppins host project. The house provided is just outside the town, more towards the countryside and is a spacious and quiet place to stay. Chivasso, July 2018.

Mary and Juliet (cultural facilitator of Articolo10) inform Paola, Mary's lawyer, of their decision to go to trial, thus trying to prove, at least in part, Mary's innocence of some of the facts of which she was accused and for which she spent 7 months in prison in 2019. Turin, March 2025.

Mary poses for a portrait in her room. Turin, March 2023.

Mary bears the marks of Libya on her body, of the exploitation she suffered and the voodoo ritual she experienced before leaving for Europe. She has a story no different from the thousands of other girls imprisoned in hot spots and forced into prostitution to pay off the debt contracted for the journey. A debt that chokes them and forces them to be trafficked. San Sebastiano da Po, May 2018.

Year 2019 was a very bad one for Mary. Accused of opening a bank account through which money from a scam and money laundering had transited, Mary is arrested. She loses all her documents, her residence permit and her job. She enters prison before Christmas 2018 and is released after 7 months. Here our contacts break down. Turin, January 2020.

Mary jealously keeps this picture, the only one she has of her mum with her and her brother. Her mother unfortunately died when she was still a child and Mary grew up with her grandmother in a house outside Lagos. Chivasso, May 2018.

After the latest updates on her still unresolved penal issues, Mary is preparing for her first court appearance. Between March and April, she will face several trials to clarify her position on the charges that brought her to prison in 2019. After many years of waiting, the trial is in its final steps and soon she will finally have a clear idea of what awaits her. Turin, March 2025.