A Tree grows in Calcutta

It is hard to find words for everything I feel and all the wonderful and inspiring things that have happened this week. At the same time, it has sometimes been overwhelming, and some moments have been difficult to bear.  Most of the girls and children that we have been working with for the past few years are thriving – making a success out of lives that they could never have imagined - but there are a few that we have lost, or that in dire peril, and it is hard to come face to face with that reality.  We are doing everything in our power to intervene and help these individuals, and I am grateful to have the chance to try, but working on this issue, in this underworld, there are huge challenges.

On a happier note, these volunteers rock!  They are so self-sufficient, so energized, endlessly creative, and have no problem
connecting with the kids despite the language barrier. Our Tree of Life mural is almost finished and it is exquisite – these
girls are exceptionally creative.  Once they overcome their hesitation and take up a brush, you have to practically wrestle it out of their hands to wash it at the end of the day.  I can see them rubbing their shoulders from the fatigue of holding a brush in the air for 6 hours,but still they go on.

The younger kids (5-11) tend to respond immediately, basking in the attention and diving into the projects. The older girls are more reserved, and since they have mostly been rescued from trafficking situations, rather than intercepted in the process of being sold, they have more painful history to overcome. But they are overcoming it.  We couldn’t have possibly painted this
mural in one week without the girls dedication.

Watching our tree of life mural spring from the wall which was formerly plain and drab, is like a metaphor for watching girls blossom once they are rescued from slavery and put in a safe and loving place. It is poignant that the younger girls have to translate for the older ones – those rescued at a young age have the benefit of a formal education.  They are all literate and speak some English. The older girls often have no formal education or only a year or two.  It is almost impossible to go back to first grade when you are 14 or 15.

That is why our organization was founded – to offer opportunities to all survivors, regardless of these limitations which are no fault of their own.  And they so deserve it!  They are grateful for every bit of help, every small kindness is repaid with their immense love and concern for our well-being.

I feel deeply at home here, deeply cared for.  All the hard work, all the stress, all the tedious moments and financial worries of running this organization over the past year in our struggling economy, just fall away in the warmth and light of this place and these survivors.

Fighting slavery is hard work!  Many people still don’t believe it even exists.  Others are paralyzed by the enormity of the world’s
problems and choose to do nothing.  But in this moment, sitting on a survivor’s bed in a shelter home, with five or six girls snuggled in around me and holding my hands, drawing pictures and laughing at my lame attempts at Bengali, it all feels so clear.  They’re worth it.

outdoor games at WIF shelter

school sponsored kids at Apne Aap