Projects

You know that feeling when an intense, three-season thriller ends on a cliffhanger? It is quite an enraging feeling. Now, stretch that feeling out. Not for minutes, but for months. For years. Imagine being a character trapped in that story. For many survivors of human trafficking, life feels exactly like that. When we came across […]

Shreya’s mother had left when she was six months old; her father was a chronic alcoholic. Between two unreliable parents, changing schools, shifting homes and hostels, the only anchor she had was her paternal aunt. She trusted her more than any adult around her, and there was good reason for it. Her aunt had taken […]

To Attend or Not To Attend At the age of 12 Jiya* was forced to attend to her first customer.  It was her mother who had sold her to the pimps in the Red-light area.  Jiya’s mother had married a man who was addicted to alcohol and was physically abusive. Jiya recounts her mother leaving […]

The wall comes crashing down.  A loud thud opens my eyes. It takes a while to register his face. He calls my name with an expectant voice – “Me! Your brother!” He looks so familiar extending his hands with tears in his eyes. He looks so safe.  I wish I could take his hands but […]

I would gaze up at the leaves. They helped me hide from the sun. My mother had recently delivered two more boys and they cried all day. Just like her. I remember we were always hungry and the shade of that tree was our only home. On those days, we were lucky, we shared our […]

We had arrived just in the nick of time, and saved two young girls, who would have otherwise been forced into prostitution. Sonu was born and raised in west Bengal. Her father was a driver but was barely able to make ends meet, the money he earned wasn’t much. Sonu managed to stay in school […]

Initially we learned from the girl, Munni, that she was trafficked 9 years ago, but after several conversations and sessions we learned that she had been trafficked almost 12 years ago, this is her story — Munni lived with her family in a village in West Bengal, they lived in a mud house and her […]

I was born in India but my father’s health was bad so we moved back to his hometown in Nepal, father died 1-2 years later and Mom remarried. I moved to stay with my uncle and aunt who had five children. My cousins were going to school so I wanted to as well but they […]