Lita´s Nightmare is a comic which tells the story of a teenager - Lita - who dreams of being a model and traveling abroad. She meets Carlos, a handsome young man who pretends to be in love with her and promises to take her to another country. Carlos asks her not to say anything to her mother and friends.

After convincing her, Carlos provides Lita false travel documents and leaves the country with her. Upon reaching the destination country, Lita is sold and sexually exploited in a night club. After two years of suffering, Lita tests positive for HIV and is thrown out onto the street by the trafficker who has kept her captive all this time. She is finally rescued by the authorities and can now return home. Sadly, Lita is very ill and she dies.

Fortunately for Lita, this was just a bad dream, a nightmare from which she was able to wake up from, in her home and with her mother nearby.

Sadly for many young women in Peru and all over the world, the nightmare is all too real.

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The original comic was developed by IOM Peru with input from the Research Institute for Children and Families (IDEIF in Spanish) under the Regional Pilot Project for the Prevention of Trafficking in Children and Adolescents and Strengthening Knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 

The comic was later updated and an accompanying screenplay was produced by IOM Peru’s Migration Management and Emergencies Unit with support from renowned Peruvian actor and director, Ramon Garcia.

IOM Peru has also joined forces with financial services company SURA Peru, to combat human trafficking, and bring the Lita´s Nightmare theatrical play, interpreted by the Cast of Pensioners of SURA Peru (older actors acting as teenagers) to several schools in Lima. With over 3,900 victims of trafficking, mostly young women identified in Peru between 2009 and 2014, the comic is an important step in making sure that the message gets out to a wider audience in an accessible way.

As Karina Calmet, a famous Peruvian actress and athlete, recently appointed IOM Peru Goodwill Ambassador for the fight against human trafficking said: “All human beings are born free; we are entitled to dignity and to have dreams. We need to fight against this form of slavery where people are treated as commodities.”

Lita´s Nightmare can be found here.

Read more about Lita´s Nightmare in schools here and here.