I wasn't born a slave. I was born a free man in 1922 in a little village off the Atlantic coast of Africa. I never really knew what free life meant because I was such a young boy and had never been out to a major city. My parents had always told us that we were the only people on this entire planet, and that nobody could hurt us. I was born to my mother Neytiri and my father Abdul. I was the oldest child and then 3 years after I was born my younger brother Raj was born. Shortly after he was born my family became deathly ill. We were able to afford the medical bills for a while but they just were not getting better. Then after 4 months we were completely out of money and options. Because I had gotten better they had sent me out to the local bank to take out a loan and the man said that because we were too poor that he could not give us a loan. I asked him if there was any other way to pay for my family's medical treatment so that they could get better. He told me that his brother owned a thread dyeing factory that the family could work at to pay off their medical treatment. I agreed and he payed for my family's medical treatment. They got better and the man came and took us to the factory. Now when I say factory I am not talking about the kind of factory that you would think. To get to the factory we had to walk through a long windy trail that only a few people had gone through. When we got through the jungle there was a gate at the entrance that said something in Afrikaans that I could not read. There was a man at the entrance waiting to sign us in. When we got to the entrance the man took our arms and stamped them with a bar code that would be our identification for the next 11 years. The gate was then opened and we were led to a tiny hut that would soon be our home. The hut had no floor only earth, there was no indoor plumbing and not even a toilet. There was another 6 people living in that hut with us and we soon learned that they were here for the same reason as us. We met the family that were living with us and we saw that their arms all the way up to their elbows were covered with different colors of what we thought was just paint. We had no idea what it was or how it had happened. All we knew is that we needed to get our debt paid off and get out of there. All of the sudden, a man poked his head into the hut and told us it was time to work. The family next to us jumped up and ran outside. While they were running I saw something on their backs. To my horror they had scars of whips all over their backs. I soon realized what this place was. These people were slaves and I was now joining them. My mother had Raj strapped to her back because he was to young to work and me and my parents went out to the factory and went inside. The factory was hot and steamy and the second I walked in I choked because of the steam and stuffiness of the air inside. There was no window open or door open just one big door that led outsid