One of the things we hold dear is our identity, but Sangita (24) says she has lost claim on her’s when she was nine years old. Her family needed money and sent her to do household work in Kolkata. There she was sexually abused by the watchman of the house, and a woman she had asked help for sold her to a brothel, where she spent two years before she was rescued in a police raid.
“From my window, I saw children going to school, but I never went to school myself,” she said. Sanlaap, the organisation in Kolkata which rescued her and which works with rescuing victims of child trafficking, took care of her, ensured her health and education, and, this year, nominated her for a project by anti-child trafficking organisation Free a Girl International called School for Justice.
Change from within
The programme, run by the Indian office of the Dutch organisation, aims at bringing survivors of child trafficking into legal studies — training them for entrance exams and supporting them through study at law colleges — so that they change the legal system from within, and bring perpetrators of sexual offences to justice.
“My case is still pending in a Kolkata court of law,” says Sabnam. “That’s the main reason I want to be a lawyer. I have no interest in law, as such, but I want to close my pending case. That is the reason I said yes.” Sabnam (25) was sold to a brothel in Kolkata’s Sonagachchi when she was nine years old, and spent two years there before arriving at Sanlaap after a police raid. Today, she is one of the most confident speakers for the School for Justice programme. Her confidence took time to form, and is now part of her identity. “For me, my identity is that I am a strong person, a bold person,” she says. She knows that studying for the law entrance exam will not be easy, but is willing to put in the hard work because it means that victims of child trafficking will be saved. “The programme gives me the chance to create change — I want to help girls that had to go through the suffering I went through. I want to fight their cases, and help them get justice when they do not get it. I will be able to help them because I know what it feels like to be in their position. I know what to say that will help, and what to say that will not help,” says Sabnam.
The programme, funded by Free a Girl International along with its corporate donors, is in the pilot year in 2017. Seventeen girls, chosen in partnership with Sanlaap, form the first cohort and will sit the law entrance exam in December this year. In future, said Mr. Francis Garcias, CEO of Free the Girl India, Free a Girl India will aim to be funded within India, and partner with other non-governmental organisations across the country. Free a Girl will support the students through their law degrees, financially as well as through care in accommodation and personal needs.
Raising voice for others
For Kalyani (21), the chance to become a lawyer and fight cases of child trafficking will allow her to raise her voice, and raise awareness. “I want to become a good lawyer in the future to raise awareness,” she says. “If I don’t use my voice, nobody will. I have to talk about my own problem. Nobody else would believe it. They would ask why I was making up stories. But it is the truth. What happened to me has not gotten justice. I want to stop the same thing from happening to others.” Using her voice is not easy. “Of course, I know people say things about me, or laugh at me, or misuse my words in society. But I still want to give the message to other girls that they have to speak up for themselves. I could have been broken, it would have been easy. But I did not. And I want to inspire others in my place not to break, either,” she says.
Sangita says, “When we are raised in society, girls are treated as a burden. Boys always eat the bigger fish during meals. Girls have to adjust. Why should we adjust?” If families are made aware that children at the age of 14 and 15 should be in school, and shouldn’t work for money, then that is the first step. The cycle also needs to break, she says.
“Girls who are made to work in brothels end up running brothels when they cross a certain age. They need to be saved in time, otherwise, they grow up in that society. Like I was helped, I want to help other girls in that same stage. Otherwise, the cycle will never end.” It is with this aim to fix wrongs that the first class of students will prepare for entrance exams this year.
