All language subtitles for banged_up_abroad_s15e01_hdtv_h264-rbb_-_doodstream

I was using a lot of drugs and my life
was a mess.

I thought that leaving the country,
cutting all ties would make things

different.

Have a nice trip.

would make things better for me.

Experimenting is good.

At least once in your life you have to
say, well, I tried that, right?

I mean, what can go wrong?

Like therapy, what can go wrong?

I never in my life thought that I would
turn into a

professional drug trafficker.

In 2013,

I was working as a receptionist in a
dead -end hotel.

Renting out rooms to mostly prostitutes
or escorts,

as they call themselves.

That was kind of weird for me.

Because, I don't know.

I'm shy, man.

Traveling was always my dream.

I wanted to see the world, see a
different country, experience a

culture.

But all I could afford was staying in
one of the hotel rooms.

The walls were very thin and I would
hear all the sounds of the

people in the next room.

I hated it, but...

I didn't want to go back home because
the relationship with my family at

that point was a complete mess.

When I was young, I discovered that my
parents

had hidden from me that I was adopted.

when I found out I felt rejected and I
didn't

really believe that my parents loved me.

I started taking cocaine as a method of
self -medicating the pain that I was

feeling.

You actually start forgetting about
everything that is wrong in your life

For that moment in time everything
seemed to be great.

But then the drugs were off and I was
being transported from the

highest height to the lowest low.

I would lay on the bed crying at night
just hoping for a miracle to happen for

me.

Late one night, I was telling my friend,
if I could only get one chance to

leave South Africa, my whole life would
change.

And as I turned the phone off,

this guy turned to me and said, sorry,
but

I might have a solution for you.

How would you like to go to Wilson?

Well, I love Brazil.

He told me that his name was Mike and
the trip would be all expenses paid.

I promise you.

I don't trust a lot of people.

But he had this warmth about him.

That he really wanted to help.

Let's bring back the package.

And in return, you'll receive a payment.

Payment.

Yup.

20 ,000 rand.

In my head, it was like ding, ding,
ding, ding, ding, ding.

Money.

It's almost $2 ,000.

What did I be bringing there?

Two kilos of cocaine.

He saw the fear that I had and he said,
no, but nothing will happen to you.

But that moment, either your life is
going to change.

It's your call.

I'll find someone else if you're not
interested.

Or you're going to stay in the same
situation.

Maybe this was the miracle that I was
waiting for.

Okay, I'm going to do it.

I will do this trip, get the money, and
start a different life.

And I'm going to see Brazil.

In a taxi.

I leaned out the window and just
absorbed everything.

It was just a dream came true.

For the first couple of days, I went
crazy.

I didn't really think about what I was
doing then.

I was too busy.

Partying, dancing, and expressing myself
with new sound concepts.

I was gay and growing up in South Africa
was really hard because

being gay wasn't openly accepted.

You had to live a lie.

You still had to go out dating men.

And just the fact that I could be open
made it a lot easier for

me. Actually to be myself Just having
fun fun that I

didn't have for such a long time it made
me happy

My

trip was over

and I had to leave Brazil

I was waiting for the contact to
actually come to the hotel to give me

drug that I would be travelling with.

My parents called to see how I was
doing.

I had my mom's voice in my head the
whole time saying, you know that you

shouldn't be doing this.

If you're going to do the wrong things,
you're going to end up in prison.

Then I heard a knock on the door.

What's the door?

There was a man with a black shopping
bag filled with cocaine.

No,

it's going on your body.

I'm in a foreign country, which I don't
speak the language.

He has my ticket.

The only choice that I basically had
was...

to let him put it on my body.

I feel the coke tight against my
ribcage.

And he said to me, it's too late now,
we're already late, you have to just go

like this.

And he started pushing me out the door.

As I was entering, a cold sweat hit me.

I desperately wanted to scratch my chest
because it was itching like crazy.

But I couldn't risk it for the fear of
being noticed.

I felt like I was trapped inside of a
nightmare.

And then I pulled the pulley.

They look at you and it's like, do they
know?

I tried to look as calm as I possibly
can.

There wasn't any problem.

But now I've got to get through security
with two kilos of cocaine strapped

around my body.

I emptied my pocket and was thinking,
did I forget about something that I have

that's metallic?

All of a sudden the alarm went off and
the person in front of me... No,

they can't do this to me, they can't do
this to me.

God waved me closer to Him.

I've never felt so nervous in my life.

This is it.

I'm going to get caught.

Then I remember the piercing in my navel

God,

please just help me get through this

I've

actually made it through

I can't believe I got away with that.

When I arrived back in Durban, I met up
with Mike.

He was very sincere when he actually
apologized.

When it fell to the floor, I can breathe
again.

Deserve it.

That money pays for all that stress and
everything that you had to go through.

It's worth it.

It's the wrong thing, but it's worth it.

So yeah, it's time for a career change,
I guess.

Over the next 18 months, I flew all over
the world.

Turkey, Ethiopia, Mozambique.

I was earning hundreds of thousands of
rands.

I felt like superwoman with superpowers.

The life was way too good and the
spending was way too much.

New shoes.

New clothes.

New everything.

Ask for a fee.

Use drugs.

Everything that I wanted.

It's like... You're on top of the world.

I started having more of a relationship
with Mike.

Standing by each other and helping one
another.

So, yeah, it was kind of a family.

And that actually was something that I
was craving

for at that point in my life.

One day I was returning back to South
Africa after successfully smuggling

into Europe.

I didn't have any drugs in my suitcase.

Excuse me.

Do you mind coming with me, please?

But I was taken to the police station at
the airport.

Some guys started searching my suitcase
and

started asking a lot of questions.

What were you doing in Brazil?

And I replied, why am I being searched?
Why am

I... being held here for four hours with
no reason.

I saw my photo and my passport number
and it just said

I'm a suspected drug trafficker.

Right then I made the decision to stop.

I'll never smoke drugs again.

The party was over.

I visited Mike and told him what
happened.

I really expected him to understand my
situation.

Let me stop when I tell you.

All that trust, all that respect that I
had for him, just with those couple of

words were all gone.

No, I don't want to do it anymore. You
do what I tell you to do!

The real Mike emerged.

And that made me scared.

Are you going to listen to me carefully?

I thought, Mike.

I know where your family lives. I know
where you live.

And if you are not going to travel, then
I will take out your family.

Even though we weren't having a good
relationship, they saw my family.

And I couldn't have it on my head if
somebody go and hurt them for something

that I'm doing wrong.

I'll do it, but it's going to be my last
one.

I had to make a pact with the devil.

I started thinking about the threat
against my family.

It's my fault that their life is in
danger.

I phoned home to make sure that they
were okay.

When I heard my

mom's voice, I started crying.

I'm not listening. I just needed to take
some time.

I was feeling a lot of guilt because I
brought my family into this whole mess

with me.

And even if I had to go to prison
because of

the suspected drug trafficking charges,
that would have been better than to let

anything happen to my family.

Other people don't have to pay for my
mistakes.

I'm just going to have to go through
with this.

Even if it meant that I could get
caught.

I was told that I had to meet this
woman.

They were two bags stuffed with cocaine.

It was way more than what I normally
would be trafficking.

It's going to be overweight.

No, it won't be overweight.

It's fine.

I was just thinking this is all
different, all wrong.

Bag that were overweight.

Customers have to open their suitcases
and take some of the things out.

If I have to open my suitcase, then
they're going to see two backpacks and

I was going to be searched.

At the airport, I thought to myself, you
can do this, you have done this so many

times before.

On the inside, I was a complete mess.

I was watching the numbers, scared that
it's going to be overweight.

When I saw it was only 23 kilos.

That was a big relief.

But he kept my back there on the
weighing belt.

And what were you doing in Brazil?

I spoiled myself to a vacation for my
birthday.

I didn't know what he was saying because
I didn't understand his language.

My heart was beating out of my chest.

The only thing that I could think about
was my whole life was coming to an end

if I was caught with this cocaine in my
back.

Suddenly I saw the police.

My heart just bounced to the ground.

I just felt numb, numb.

My luck has run out.

I was taken to the police station where
they started to take

everything out of the suitcase.

They started throwing all the cocaine
into a container.

It was like a huge mountain of

White powder.

Four kilograms of cocaine.

I couldn't believe that it's so much.

The minute that they put the cubs on, I
knew that now my

freedom is over.

En route to the prison, I was a nervous
wreck.

The idea of going to prison is one
thing.

But the idea of going to prison in
Brazil, where I was the only

foreigner there, that made me even more
vulnerable.

Talking towards the cell frightened me.

That's even a more scary feeling than
when you're trafficking itself.

When I entered into the cell, the
prisoners take whatever they

want.

It wasn't for me just to say, hey, you
can't do that.

Because there were murderers inside,
there were gang leaders inside.

I was already starting to prepare myself
for the work.

My first night in prison, I heard a
fight that was breaking

out in one of the cells.

And there was a lot of screaming,
shouting, beating.

And then just one bang.

It was like somebody throwing something
against the wall.

And after that, everything really got
quiet.

The next morning, the police found

the body of one of the prisoners in the
cell.

And when they were taking the body down
the stairs, you could

hear the head banging on the stairs
every step.

That sound stayed.

with me for a very long time.

For a very, very long time.

I would just pray to get out of that
prison.

Even though it was my fault that I was
there.

After a couple of weeks, I was given a
letter.

I was sentenced to five years and ten
months.

And my whole world just came tumbling
down.

Prison was hell on earth.

There was no respect from anyone.

There was no boundaries.

The prisoners could do anything to you.

Just the smallest thing that you say
wrong to them or you do something to

they could turn around and they can
actually kill you.

Inside of the cell, drug use was a daily

routine.

I was given a condom filled with drugs.

I couldn't say no

because I didn't know what you were
capable of doing.

I had to come up with an idea how to
hide drugs.

I discovered tweezers, metal tweezers,
and started chipping away at the

wall.

I took the cocaine and squeezed it
tightly into the hole.

But I was worried that the guards could
enter at any moment and find the

cocaine.

My sentence could get doubled.

if I get caught with that amount of
drugs.

A few days after hiding the drugs,

suddenly

God burst into my cell.

to see if they can find drugs hidden in
any part of the room.

They take off the blanket.

They feel if there's anything hidden in
the pillows.

They check every little thing.

I can feel sweat forming on my forehead.

And then she moved closer and closer to
the picture, hiding the cocaine.

My hands were shaking, my body was
shaking.

My heart beat like crazy.

The guard... is about to pull off the
picture.

When another guard shouted, everybody
out, everybody out, let's go to the next

tower.

It was a huge relief.

As the months passed, I was falling
deeper and deeper into self -loathing

despair.

I didn't think I was worth anything, and
I didn't deserve anything.

The only thing that I thought that I
deserved was the sentence that I was

given.

I felt rock bottom.

But then I was given a letter that had
arrived for me at the prison.

It was from my mother and my father.

The letter said that it doesn't help to

to judge you for what you have done
because you are suffering enough

at the moment.

That was the only words that I wanted to
see and that meant a lot.

Knowing that the people that I've hurt
most in my life

actually could find it in their hearts
to forgive me

made me feel like I was actually still
worth something.

Eventually, the woman that I was hiding
drugs for left the prison.

I used that opportunity to stop hiding
the drug.

One of the gods brought a new woman to
the town.

It's nice to meet you.

My name is Naya.

I never believed in love and suicide,
but...

I fell in love the first time that I saw
her.

We started becoming friends immediately.

Naya introduced me to the joys of
reading and I was happy just to be next

to Naya doing things that we both
enjoyed.

She introduced me to the school in the
prison as well.

She had a good influence on me.

But it was never said between either of
us that there were any feelings.

But for me, friendship wasn't enough.

One night I was lying in bed and all of
a sudden I feel her hand

on my hand.

It was like an electric shock that went
through my body.

It was better than any drug that I have
ever used.

Being locked up in a prison cell, I
never saw

in my entire life that I would actually
find love.

Prison used to be a nightmare.

But just for the sake of one person,
that changed everything. Everything

into...

I see now that I was looking for self
-acceptance in smuggling drugs.

But all the drug deals and the money
doesn't make you happy.

It doesn't complete you.

I just needed to be loved.

After two years and four months in
prison, I was called to the guard's

I was told, don't pack your bags, you've
got your freedom.

Aren't you happy that you're going?

My heart was broken in 10 million little
pieces because I had to leave

the love of my life in prison.

Naya wanted me to stay as well.

But she also wanted me to be free.

Gave her a kiss on the cheek.

And she's like, just go.

It was only my body living.

My heart, my soul, my everything was
still right back in that cell

with Naya.

Everything was with her.

On the 10th of April 2021 we got
married.

It was the happiest day of my life.

Today I'm doing my dream job.

Working as a firefighter.

Now you have three kids and also living
with us.

And being a mom for them.

taught me the values of family.

They don't care that I'm not their
biological mom.

And that made me realize that everything
that my parents used

to try to do for me was because they
love me.

great drug trafficking, but if I didn't
go to prison I would not have met Naya

and I wouldn't have had my family.

Everything worked out for the best.

I'm the happiest woman in the whole
world.