On her first day of work, Adau realised she had made a big mistake. 'We got our uniforms, not even knowing exactly what we were going to do. From the first day of work we were taken to the drones factory. We stepped in and we saw drones everywhere and people working. Then they took us to our different work stations.'
Twenty-three-years-old and originally from South Sudan, Adau says last year she was lured to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, on the promise of a full-time job. She had applied to the Alabuga Start programme, a recruitment scheme targeting 18-to-22-year-old women, mostly from Africa but also increasingly from Latin America and South-East Asia. It promises participants professional training in areas including logistics, catering and hospitality.
But the programme has been accused of using deception in its recruitment practices, and of making its young recruits work in dangerous conditions for less pay than advertised. It denies all these allegations but did not deny that some employees were helping to build drones.
By some estimates, over 1,000 women have been recruited from across Africa to work in Alabuga's weapons factories. Adau has asked the BBC not to use her surname or picture as she does not want to be associated with the programme. She says she first heard about it in 2023 through a sponsorship advert by the South Sudanese Ministry of Higher Education.
Adau said she was impressed upon arriving in Russia, but her optimism soon faded when she learned of the factory's true purpose. Facing hazardous chemicals that burned her skin and a Ukrainian drone strike that targeted the vicinity, the promise of a better future quickly turned into a nightmare.
She concluded, 'I can't believe this is what I'm doing now.' Adau's narrative embodies the harsh reality faced by many young women lured into a deceptive recruitment scheme, leaving them entangled in a conflict they never anticipated.
Twenty-three-years-old and originally from South Sudan, Adau says last year she was lured to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, on the promise of a full-time job. She had applied to the Alabuga Start programme, a recruitment scheme targeting 18-to-22-year-old women, mostly from Africa but also increasingly from Latin America and South-East Asia. It promises participants professional training in areas including logistics, catering and hospitality.
But the programme has been accused of using deception in its recruitment practices, and of making its young recruits work in dangerous conditions for less pay than advertised. It denies all these allegations but did not deny that some employees were helping to build drones.
By some estimates, over 1,000 women have been recruited from across Africa to work in Alabuga's weapons factories. Adau has asked the BBC not to use her surname or picture as she does not want to be associated with the programme. She says she first heard about it in 2023 through a sponsorship advert by the South Sudanese Ministry of Higher Education.
Adau said she was impressed upon arriving in Russia, but her optimism soon faded when she learned of the factory's true purpose. Facing hazardous chemicals that burned her skin and a Ukrainian drone strike that targeted the vicinity, the promise of a better future quickly turned into a nightmare.
She concluded, 'I can't believe this is what I'm doing now.' Adau's narrative embodies the harsh reality faced by many young women lured into a deceptive recruitment scheme, leaving them entangled in a conflict they never anticipated.
