Rescue trafficked women & children in India

Human trafficking in India is a growing epidemic in our country. According to the Global Slavery Index, 2016 there are 6 victims for every thousand people, and the number is growing. The crime of human trafficking is heinous and the stories are a gut-wrenching portrait of horror. One such story is of our beneficiary Payal*. 

“Life has only offered me betrayal, betrayal at its worst! It was my mother who sold me to my abusers”- says a 26-year-old Payal, who was sold into the trade at the tender age of 17. Nine harsh years in the trade made Payal a bitter woman. During their visit, our field staff came across an impolite, disheveled Payal who refused to acknowledge their friendly approach.

Then during one of the field visits, the staff discovered that Payal’s daughter needed medical help for a head injury. They were successful in building a relationship with Payal as she began to open up and talk about her struggles. She was counseled and started to benefit from the counsel as she overcame her drinking problem, started maintaining her finances and cared for herself and her children’s health. She is now a regular attendee to a drop-in clinic, benefitting from the Hepatitis B vaccination, skin camp, and other value and community building activities. She also successfully completed the cooking course taught at the center.

Payal harbored deep anger against her mother (a commercial sex worker herself), as she forced her into the trade. To add to this, she was abandoned by her husband after two years of marriage. Payal did not want history to repeat itself and desired a safe future for her children. It was this desire that gave her the courage to ask our staff to help her relocate and start life afresh.

Thanks to your generosity, our staff in the red-light districts of India are able to make connections with Payal. Today, Payal drops her children off at school and joins the thousands who commute to work every day as she heads to a training center, learning a skill that will one day provide her employment. Her life and the lives of her children have transformed because of people like you!

*Name and photo changed to protect identity.