Lena Cebula- Sex Traffic- Hard daysLena Cebula- Sex Traffic- Hard days
3-21 NoKiddin' Gambling Addiction Recovery Podcast
Host Bobbi the Awesome talks with survivor Lina Cibula about her journey through childhood abuse, addiction and human trafficking into faith, recovery and advocacy. Their conversation connects trauma and substance use while offering practical encouragement for those who feel trapped and afraid to seek change.
48:37•26 Oct 2026
From Human Trafficking to Hope: Lina Cibula’s Journey Beyond Addiction
Episode Overview
- Trauma, including sexual abuse and loss, can drive addiction, and many people use substances as a desperate attempt to switch off overwhelming pain.
- Political and social breakdown can strip away protections, leaving vulnerable people exposed when systems and services disappear.
- Human trafficking can be disguised as legitimate job offers, and one seemingly kind person can be the link into years of exploitation.
- Hearing about human rights and available support, even later in life, can open the door to shelters, education and safer futures.
- Leaving abuse or addiction rarely feels safe or tidy, and Lina stresses the value of taking imperfect action: do it scared, ask for help and keep reaching out until someone stands with you.
“If you want to get out, you just have to do it afraid.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between host Bobbi the Awesome and guest Lina Cibula takes that question to the edge, and then goes further. Lina shares how her childhood in Ukraine slid from structure and order into chaos when the system collapsed, leaving her in a home "full of strangers who brought booze and drugs" and parents who did nothing to protect her.
She speaks openly about being repeatedly abused, becoming pregnant without even knowing it, and losing her baby: "I carry that casket in the cemetery in my arms. And for next 20 years, I carry that in my mind." From there came heroin, street life and a desperate hunger to numb everything.
Things then turn even darker as Lina explains how a seemingly generous woman "sold me into human trafficking" and how she was moved through Egypt into a brothel in Israel. She describes the grim hierarchy of brothels, the ever-present danger, and why, compared with other girls who "died or went missing", her situation was, chillingly, an "upgrade" because she got clean from heroin there.
Lina later recounts being trafficked again, this time to Canada, and the shock of hearing for the first time in her twenties that she had human rights. Her path away from exploitation includes shelters, learning English from scratch, becoming a hairstylist, embracing faith, writing a book and training as a life coach. Throughout, she connects her experiences to addiction and trauma, highlighting how shame, guilt and condemnation kept her silent for two decades.
For anyone in addiction, recovery or supporting someone who is, this episode brings raw honesty, practical courage and a simple but powerful mantra from Lina: "If you want to get out, you just have to do it afraid." It might leave you asking what brave first step you’re ready to take today.
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