AUBURN — When professional runner Moninda Marube arrived in the United States in 2010, he thought his worst problems were over.

He’d escaped the poverty of his native Kenya, had learned English and had won some races.

But he saw little of those purses.

“When you’re leaving a Third World country and coming to a First World country, people have that notion that salvation has come,” he said. But Marube became a victim of human trafficking, running for an agent who kept him almost penniless despite prominent appearances and victories.

“I didn’t know how America operates,” Marube said.

But he’s learning.

He has taken control of his professional running career, and he’s planning an ambitious charity event that will send him running across the country.

He plans to stop along the way, drumming up support for his charity, Escape From Freedom, and talking with children about the epidemic of childhood obesity and the need for exercise.

But his primary focus is on human trafficking.

“That’s what I went through, and that’s what I want to put across to the entire world,” Marube said.

When he arrived in the U.S. in 2010, Marube and other runners were tricked into signing documents that forced them to live, eat and train in a Texas home that the agent provided.

“Everything was being channeled to him,” Marube said. “And at the end of it, he would charge us for the house and charge us for the food. Sometimes I would go win $1,000. But at the end of the day, I’d get 50 bucks.”

He stayed for nine months before his frustration took over.

Marube wanted to send money to relatives at home in Kenya. He wanted to feel some of America’s prosperity.

He lived in several places, including California and New York, before he became friends with veteran runner and coach Dan Campbell of Auburn.

Campbell gave Marube a place to live. In the two years since, Marube has entered and won many local and national races. In October, he won the Maine Marathon, and on Nov 8., he won the Santa Barbara Half Marathon in Santa Barbara, Calif.

He hopes the wins will give a boost to his charity and next year’s cross-country run.

Marube, with help from Campbell and Meagan Dube of Greene, has formally established the charity’s nonprofit status, created the website escapefromfreedom.org, and has begun looking for sponsors.

Marube plans to talk with Rotary clubs and other social and civic groups throughout Maine looking for help to cover the expense of the run, which is tentatively set to begin in April or May next year and to conclude in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he plans to once again enter the full Santa Barbara International Marathon. He has won it twice before and holds the course record.

It is expected to cap a long 2015 journey.

Local filmmaker Ramsey Tripp, who directed the “The Peloton Project,” plans to document the trip.

Marube said he expects the journey to be relatively doable, running six days a week for 30 miles each day.

However, Campbell insists that he’ll have to learn to run a lot slower than his normal racing pace if he is going to endure the 3,000-mile trek.

“He’s been running most of his life at a high intensity,” Campbell said. “He’s got to slow down — really slow down.”

Marube doesn’t seem worried about the physical demands. He said his goal will be to maintain his emotional and spiritual health, which will be needed to complete the trek.

Meeting with people and sharing his experiences will feed that need, he said.

“I need to tell my story,” he said.

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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