Now that was surprising! A “mandatory” presentation that we
had to attend as a
pre-requisite for the Impact Day – this was a first! Moreover we were
asked to sign some document listing rules of dos and don’ts…
Impact Day in my organization is a day when all the employees spend a day in service of community to create an impact – a positive difference in the lives of those who need some help. This impact day, as part of thread “Aashayein”, I was going to visit a government run hostel for the ladies and children who are rescued from human trafficking. We were going in collaboration with an NGO – IJM (International Justice Mission)...
… But none of the impact days before had asked for such a pre-requisite… so why now?
A little skeptical, I went to attend the presentation of the NGO person – Linda, an employee of IJM – who started giving us an overview of what we had enrolled into. As I listened to Linda’s sincere yet passionate speech and looked at the various pictures on her presentation which showed some of the “cases” of the rescued ladies, I soon started understanding why…
Why was it necessary to explain to the sophisticated audience of our
employees what exactly they were going to visit? Why was it necessary
to share with them the stories of where the rescued ladies in these
hostels come from and how they landed there?
As I listened to Linda, I kept thinking… what these ladies
really need is counselling, mentoring, medical and financial
aid. Money is a big issue for them – mainly due to their poor
backgrounds and that is why a big difference can be made if
they are given some vocational training – something which is
possible for them and guaranteed to start them an
income...
I could not remove my gaze from that cross for a long time…
Who wrote that? Clearly she could write in English. She must
have been desperate and desolate… But importantly, when she
wrote this here, she had already been rescued and just needed
to return home… she should have been ideally happy or eager or
may be impatient – not miserable!
Impact Day in my organization is a day when all the employees spend a day in service of community to create an impact – a positive difference in the lives of those who need some help. This impact day, as part of thread “Aashayein”, I was going to visit a government run hostel for the ladies and children who are rescued from human trafficking. We were going in collaboration with an NGO – IJM (International Justice Mission)...
… But none of the impact days before had asked for such a pre-requisite… so why now?
A little skeptical, I went to attend the presentation of the NGO person – Linda, an employee of IJM – who started giving us an overview of what we had enrolled into. As I listened to Linda’s sincere yet passionate speech and looked at the various pictures on her presentation which showed some of the “cases” of the rescued ladies, I soon started understanding why…
Why was it necessary to explain to the sophisticated audience of our
employees what exactly they were going to visit? Why was it necessary
to share with them the stories of where the rescued ladies in these
hostels come from and how they landed there?
Hardly any of us really had full idea of the lives of the people we
were going to visit… hardly any of us really understood or thought of
what their life was like, what challenges they faced or where they need
our help… hardly any of us thought that beyond the tag of “Prostitute”
there lives a regular person like us with their own story…and we needed
to know the facts...
For the first time in my life, I was going to visit the victims of
human trafficking… ladies and children who were brought into trade by
various channels and rescued by the police with active participation
by the NGO personnel…I was filled with anticipation and a resolution
to make the best of the time I will be spending in the rescue home and
to create a positive impact for them…
On the morning of impact day, I reached the venue early in
the morning as part of a team of around hundred volunteers….
While we were waiting to enter the premises, I again got a
chance to interact with Linda and discuss these cases at
length. This time Linda showed me a number of photos on her
mobile and explained their backgrounds and current situation
in details. Story after story emerged from Linda’s cell phone
and painted in front of me a clear possibility of how you can
touch and transform lives of people in need – if only you
believed fully into the cause, made yourself available and
took action with perseverance. Each of them was a story of
Hope – story of “Aashayein”…
There was a smiling photograph of a mentally challenged girl
who actually belonged to a wealthy family. She was deceived by
a man and sold in a brothel. Her parents tried every angel and
could not find her. She was found in one of the IJM led raids.
When they found her she was in a very bad shape but was
ultimately reunited with her parents. Now she is well cared
for and back to her normal life.
I got tears in my eyes when she showed me snaps of an eight
year old girl dancing happily in a school program. Even after
rescue this girl cannot be returned to her family as her
grandmother runs the brothel. IJM is now providing for her and
looking after her security and schooling.
When Linda showed me snaps of a lady in nurse uniform she was
especially proud. This lady was rescued three years ago. Since
then she completed her nursing course and is now competently
self-sufficient in her transformed life.
I was completely touched, moved and inspired… this is what
“making a difference” meant… even if you are able to transform
a single life like this… would that not be simply amazing?
As I listened to Linda, I kept thinking… what these ladies
really need is counselling, mentoring, medical and financial
aid. Money is a big issue for them – mainly due to their poor
backgrounds and that is why a big difference can be made if
they are given some vocational training – something which is
possible for them and guaranteed to start them an
income...
Finally we were allowed entry behind the huge grilled doors
of the hostel premise…
There are around hundred ladies in there, claimed to be 18
plus in age, though some of them looked younger to me. As
close to fifty of the volunteer ladies of my organization
entered the premises wearing our blue t-shirt and jeans, the
ladies of the home started observing us with a lot of
nervousness, some speculation and a tentative friendly smile…
As an ice-breaker activity, we made groups and each of us got
a couple of ladies assigned to us to interact with and we
began a round of introduction… As I looked at each of the
faces closely, I started to overcome my own nervousness and
connect with them as fellow individuals…
Many of the ladies were shy to even speak their names. There
was a lot of nervous giggle when asked to introduce themselves
by telling us their name and what they like. A few ladies
appeared very bold with bright red lipsticks and streaks of
colored hair but they were actually very soft spoken and shy.
On the other hand, a couple of saree clad ladies, whom I
thought to be illiterate and simple, turned out to be quite
confident and spoke well.
Without any exception, all of them were very glad to receive
us, to talk to us and interact with us. Many of them loved to
sing and dance and cook and feed!
A Bengali lady started singing a song quite willingly and we
all went silent. What a superb voice she had! So melodious and
taking on a high pitch so comfortably like a trained classical
singer… Without knowing what the song was all about, the
emotion of the song touched my heart. It was sad and spoke of
a tragedy... At the end, the singer explained the meaning to
us – the song was of a flower blossoming in a garden, which
was uplifted by someone unknown and thrown away… asking where
is the garden where I was nurtured and where I belonged… As
she explained the poignant meaning, she got sheen of tears in
her eyes as they looked beyond the windows, but the smile
remained fixed on her face…
We started conducting a session on personal hygiene for the
ladies. As we asked them questions, a young girl called Sonia
kept answering them all before anyone else. She soon caught my
eye… God! But she was absolutely beautiful! Fair skin, smart
and delicate features, lovely smile, lovely long hair… I could
not believe that such a beauty is found in this place! Where
has she come from? What happened to her? As I looked at that
bold and beautiful girl my eyes fell to her wrists and arms… I
felt like someone had slapped me awake from a dream… her arms
had real bad scars… as if someone has burnt her with something
or cut her with something sharp…
Oh my God! What has she gone through? Has her beauty cost her
this? The manner of her speaking and the body language told me
that she must have spent major part of her life with the same
company… may be she doesn’t even know the world we live in…
how I wished I could talk to her freely and ask her what is
her story… could I work with her to pull her out from this?
Such a smart spirited girl… she can have a bright future… who
will create that possibility for her?
Post the hygiene session, we had a great game of passing the
parcel. Each of the volunteers – who were now called as “Didi”
– and a lady from the home formed a pair. The pair who is out
was supposed to perform a dance or a song while all rest
clapped and cheered…
As the game progressed, before our eyes, the initial shyness
of the ladies faded away… soon we were all laughing out loud
together, clapping together and singing on top of our voices
together… The distance created by the vast differences in our
upbringings, backgrounds, and society faded away and nothing
really mattered then. We were simply together in those moments
– enjoying a simple game to its fullest, joined by laughter
and a basic sense of humanity – desire to belong and desire to
include…!
As we played the game, a couple of five – six year old girls
joined the group. My initial thought was that of an extreme
shock – thinking that they are also the survivors! My heart
wretched in pain and I could not wait to talk to them and find
out how the girls are cared for… But soon I found out that
their mothers are in the home and they are with their mothers.
I sent a silent prayer of thanks to God…
Such sweet innocent faces! The girl named Pooja reminded me
of my own daughter. The other was called Diya and wore cute
little glasses – which still had the manufacturer label
printed on them…
As we broke for lunch, I took the first opportunity to seek
the girls out. The girls wanted more of the tissue papers we
had used to make paper flowers. I offered them a few, used my
experience as a mom and soon got them open up to me. Soon we
were counting to thirty and reciting A B C D with phonics…
Pooja said she learnt it when she was back home and really
remembered it well!
Where is Pooja's home? Who taught her? Her mom seemed to be a
good, genuine and an affectionate lady to me… if I had met her
in normal society, I would have never suspected her to be a
victim or a worker… What’s happened to them? What is their
future? What is going to be Pooja and Diya’s future?
I pushed the thoughts aside for the moment and taught the
girls to play ring-a-ring-a-roses… Soon the three of us were
laughing and running a circle… I actually forgot that I was
hungry since last couple of hours and had the lunch waiting… I
did not want to leave them… I wanted to make them laugh, I
wanted to teach them more… I wanted to know that as I leave
them, they will be fine… I wanted to see the possibility of a
bright future for them…
Post lunch, we got into a lantern making session with the
ladies. I sat with two Bengali ladies – who were rescued just
recently. Soon they shared that they had children of their own
whom they had left home. One lady had left her five year old
daughter in the care of her mother and had last seen her
daughter one year ago. She spoke of her daughter with a
constant smile on her face and deep longing in her voice. It
was a mother who loved her child beyond everything and wanted
to be with her more than anything. She would do anything for
the well being of her child, to protect her child and to see
her secure. As a mother, I resonated with that mother’s
feeling. As a mother, I could just sense the depth of her
misery when she had to abandon her child. What caused this?
She was married… where is her husband? Or was it her husband
who is behind where she is today? She was a Muslim and kept
saying “Allah”… she held my hand when she said “Dua karo hum
jaldi ghar jaye…” How I wished only my “Dua” would be enough
for her to deal with this…
The other Bengali lady told me that she loves reading. She
spoke English fluently and was educated. May be it was her
education and larger understanding of the world that she
appeared more like she has accepted the situation and looked
to be strong enough to deal with it…
While making lanterns, I peeped through the open doors of the
large hall like rooms where the ladies lived. The rooms had
only that much which would be bare minimum required for a
person to stay and sleep. Bunk beds with shabby beds and
unclean sheets. Overall poor state of furniture and lack of
cleanliness.
As I looked through the room, my eyes fell on a drawing of
big cross made on a wall on which a cursive handwriting said –
“Help me God! Please!!”
I could not remove my gaze from that cross for a long time…
Who wrote that? Clearly she could write in English. She must
have been desperate and desolate… But importantly, when she
wrote this here, she had already been rescued and just needed
to return home… she should have been ideally happy or eager or
may be impatient – not miserable!
But then the world is not black and white for these ladies
who have only seen the shades of grey… Even after rescue, they
depend on the NGO to look after them to work through the
legalities. They need to find their families or find a secure
job and means of earning. How many would be going back to what
they were doing? How many are found by their previous owners
again? How many are accepted by their families?
May be for some, the rescue would actually be like leaving a
known, familiar world and trying to enter something where they
have absolutely no idea how to survive! Who will give them
this support or this confidence?
With that thought, once again, my eyes sought out the one
person in the group who was most mysterious of all… At first
look, I had mistaken her as one of the IJM volunteers and was
completely shocked to know that she was also a survivor!
That foreigner – snow shite skin, golden hair, beautiful
smile, who looked like a fair version of one of our Bollywood
heroines - she had somehow ended up in a rescue home in India!
By now, I had come to know that she is very humble, polite
and actually very helpful to the NGO volunteers in dealing
with the ladies. She must have spent at least a few years in
India for she spoke quite a bit of Hindi. She was clearly very
smart however after being with the ladies for a long period of
time she had also become somewhat shy and I felt as if some of
her original spirit must have left her… A wide scar ran from
her lips to her mid-cheek adding to the darkness of her
background... How? When? Why? What now...? Same questions kept
buzzing in my head as I kept looking at her…
As the day came to an end, the ladies of the home performed a
dance routine for us – which they had practiced just since two
days knowing that we were planning to visit. A folk dance
performed with so much ease and grace… it felt like a big
Thank You gesture to me.
Sonia – the beautiful girl who had shown so much of spirit –
was the only one bold enough to come forward and tell us on
all their behalf that they really loved our visit and had a
day filled with so much fun and activities. They really wished
that we would visit again and spend time with them… everyday
they spend the days worrying about their future and thinking
of their problems, but that day was made special to them by
us.
Happiness for them – was a rare gift!
We had really created a big impact – with just the visit of
one single day…
As I said goodbye, my eyes kept wondering across all the
faces around me… my heart went out to them… I gave them hugs
and I gave them my love… I again prayed a “Dua” for them… but
that was all I could give them then…
What they really need is for people like us to take a stand
for them… with full understanding of their individual
situation. They need help – the way they require it. Not the
way we understand it. They really need “enablement” – to move
successfully and independently ahead in life and to avoid
getting sucked back into their old life. They need lots of
counselling to get the confidence and positivity back in their
life.
They need acceptance, care and love. They need us to stop
judging them for their backgrounds and they need unconditional
support.
As Linda said, “To make a difference to them, you need to be really
positive and believe that there is HOPE for them. You need
to demonstrate constant commitment and focused effort and
time dedicated to them. We have seen so many
transformations and there is always a way to bring life
back to them. You just need to be there, be available…and
create awareness for this whole racket of human
trafficking and their victims…”
As a beginning in that direction, here I am publishing this
article…
Thank you for reading… if you wish to act for and help the
victims of human trafficking, please let me know and I will
connect you with Linda...