Masi is a 33-year-old single mother from Kenya, the eldest of eight siblings. She spent almost 9 years in Hong Kong prison for drug trafficking.
Masi was the primary caregiver for her father, who suffered from diabetes and required treatment, as well as her mother and younger siblings. Overwhelmed by financial difficulties, a friend told Masi she could earn money by smuggling drugs to Hong Kong. Desperate for a way out, she went through with it. Upon arrival at Hong Kong airport she was arrested with nearly 1 kg heroin in the stomach.
“Dad, don't cry.
I'm still alive.”
Masi's father was very ill during the early stages of her imprisonment. She was allowed to communicate with him through the monthly 10-minute phone calls granted to prisoners.
Masi eventually shared with her father what had happened to her. With time, her father's condition worsened, and he had to have both his legs amputated. The guilt weighed heavily on Masi, and she couldn’t stop crying. A prison guard, noticing her distress, reached out to Father John Wotherspoon, a prison chaplain in Hong Kong. Father John arranged for a wheelchair to be sent to her father in Kenya, which brought Masi some comfort. Sadly, Masi's father passed away unexpectedly before she was released.
After almost nine years in prison, Masi was released and returned to Kenya, where her son, a baby when she left, was already 11 years old. She has missed most of his childhood. Back home, she has found herself facing the same struggles—unable to find a job and once again struggling to support her family.
“I've changed my life. I'm a new person.”
She has been approached by recruiters multiple times but has told them she will never do it again.