When freedom is 4,000 miles away

Cincinnati (CNN) -- On a cul-de-sac behind a strip mall in an anonymous neighborhood of this Midwestern city is an incredible story of escape from slavery.

Marieme's neighbors don't know her history. She mostly keeps to herself in her modest stucco house, 4,000 miles from her native Mauritania. Her six children know their mother's story well. She rescued them from slavery, too.

They are living a life they never could have hoped for in Mauritania, where an estimated 10% to 20% of people are enslaved.

The horrors Marieme endured as a slave in West Africa still dominate her dreams and flood her eyes at unexpected moments. In her first attempt to escape, she ran for two days and two nights through the Sahara Desert, barefoot, only to arrive at the home of another slave owner, who returned her to her master. Read More