At the shelter, I got the idea for selling products made by survivors as a way to help them earn an income and rejoin society, and also to raise awareness of global slavery. 

 

The organization has grown and evolved a lot over the past 16 years.  We’ve added education, shelter and mental health programs, serving thousands of survivors in India, Nepal, Cambodia and Thailand. 

 

What hasn’t changed is our commitment to providing long-term intensive support – walking alongside survivors on their long journey to freedom and independence – and our belief in collaboration with exceptional local partners.  It takes teamwork to make the dream work!

 

The most exciting part of my job is seeing survivors who joined our programs as young girls now managing the programs, working as trainers and mentors to newly rescued girls, or starting their own charities or businesses. Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to co-author a book with Anjali Tamang, a young woman who I first met in 2009 and who we have been sponsoring for her high school and college education.  Now Anjali is opening a school and trafficking prevention program in her village, to protect the next generation of girls in a community hard hit by trafficking and child marriage.

 

Many of our girls, like Anjali, are creating a bright future for themselves, and building a more just world for women and girls.  Every day working with them is a miracle, for which I am deeply grateful ”