HUMAN trafficking is one of the darkest and most vile crimes on Earth. Without any regard for the rights of the human being, a victim is sold, transported, abused and exploited against their will. Most victims of human trafficking are also female. These victims of human trafficking lose their freedom, their dignity, their futures and their lives are reduced to mere survival. Human trafficking is a crime that is unnoticed and unreported in most cases with perpetrators living in the shadows and not held to account. This is where an anti human trafficking NGO changes the narrative. These organizations specialize in both rescuing victims and punishing traffickers for breaking the law and dehumanizing girls and women – including minors.
Kshamata is a Maharashtra-based anti human trafficking NGO that focuses on the rescue and rehabilitation of girls and women from sex trafficking. In India, prostitution is legal and even though aspects such as solicitation and “managing” are against the law, it is still rampant. Maharashtra has some of India’s largest and most notorious red light districts such as Kamathipura, where the crowded alleyways have rows and rows of men waiting outside shabby rooms to rent beds. In these dark and dilapidated rooms, each woman has a different story to tell. But one common aspect of most of them is a story of being kidnapped, coerced, drugged, sold… and trafficked.
In this inhumane environment, the anti human trafficking NGO Kshamata listens to these stories and rescues girls and women from a slow death in brothels. Listen to Bharathy Tahiliani of Kshamata explain how these girls and women suffer and how the organization helps transform their lives:
What challenges do trafficked women face?
Forced into prostitution against a person’s will leads to mental, emotional and physical deterioration. For a girl or woman who did not choose that life – which is the majority – the struggle against subjugation occupies her mind night and day and the longer she is unable to escape her situation, the more helpless she becomes. That feeling of helplessness is enough to reduce the quality of life to such an extent that the person prefers death.
But in addition to the suffering women undergo in the red light districts, there is also the suffering they endure once they escape. Bharathy Tahiliani, the founder of Kshamata, explains that “there are so many challenges for girls and women once they are rescued. These survivors have low skill levels and low literacy levels.” Stuck in red light districts for years, the girls and women have not had access to opportunities to improve themselves. So once they escape, that small light inside of them begins to shine again and they want to start living the dreams they had before they were trafficked.
This is what Kshamata does. The anti human trafficking NGO provides livelihood opportunities to the women to help them improve themselves and access decent employment to earn money and live self-sufficient lives. The NGO provides shelter, nutritious food, medical care, trauma counseling first and foremost but recognizes the importance of empowering the women in a more sustainable and permanent manner. Founded in 2011, Kshamata has gone on to train more than 1,000 women in skills that have helped them find safe jobs.
How Kshamata transforms the lives of rescued women
Bharathy Tahiliani explains that “in the past seven to eight years, we have empowered more than 1,000 women by offering training in life skills, vocational skills, language skills and soft skills to make them employable.” There are many organizations that focus on the rescue and rehabilitation of women with a focus on their immediate needs – which is vital. But the women are still unable to reintegrate into a society that has no idea how to interact with them. Kshamata takes it a step further and bridges this gap. The anti human trafficking NGO specializes in aftercare, rehabilitation and reintegration into the mainstream.
Myriam’s plea for help that changed Bharathy Tahiliani
Before she founded Kshamata, Bharathy Tahiliani was working at an NGO where she would educate sex workers about how to protect themselves and be as safe as possible. While speaking with the women, she came across a girl named Myriam who had been forced into prostitution since she was a teenaged girl. Myriam looked up at Bharathy and asked her – “can you give me a new life?” Bharathy then realized that there are women who suffer in silence but are screaming for help inside. She shares, “when I see the plight of these women, I think to myself, if I can use my life to bring light into their lives, that is what I will do for the rest of my life.”
This is how Bharathy Tahiliani started Kshamata, an anti human trafficking NGO that provides safe shelter, nutritious meals, medical care, trauma counseling, recreational activities and other forms of support to women rescued from sex trafficking. But most importantly for Kshamata, the training that is offered in life skills and vocational skills enables and empowers the girls and women to rebuild their lives, reintegrate into mainstream society and reawaken their potential to live the lives they have always dreamed about.
Support Kshamata
It is with your support that Kshamata can continue to reach out, rescue and rehabilitate women who were once victims of human trafficking. “I urge you to come forward so that together, we can enable women, equip women, empower women and transform the lives of so many women that their lives are now lived in liberty, dignity and self-reliance.” To support Kshamata, you can donate here:
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Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.
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