For families already struggling with the financial and health pressures of the pandemic, trafficking, child marriage and abuse have risen rapidly.
Manali (name changed) lives in a rural village in West Bengal. Her family’s poverty once meant that the cost of education was an unattainable expense. Before the pandemic, your support gave her the resources needed to attend school, be it books, uniforms, or anything else she needed. After-school groups gave her access to tutoring so she could excel in her studies, while also learning about her rights directly from women leaders.
For Manali, school and her girls’ groups were much more than an education. They represented a safe place away from the threats of home. Her father was an alcoholic and abusive. School gave her an environment where she could be safe, and her girls’ groups meant that her peers and community could keep an eye on her wellbeing, ensuring that trouble at home was spotted early.
Yet, when the pandemic struck, all of that changed. The groups had to be cancelled and schools closed. Manali was stuck at home, without access to either safety or education.
In desperation and fueled by his addiction, Manali's father sold her to a stranger for a measly sum.
Like so many others, the huge increase in stress and financial concerns exacerbated Manali’s father’s alcoholism, who increasingly saw her as merely a financial burden – an extra mouth to feed in incredibly trying times. Manali had no way out, and spent her days desperately performing chores in an effort to appease her father’s resentment, and simply survive.
As with other students, Karuna was able to provide emergency food and medical aid for Manali and her family, particularly during the peak of the initial wave. While this at least guaranteed that they could eat, it was not enough.
In desperation and fueled by his addiction, Manali’s father made an arrangement – he sold her to a stranger for a measly sum.
This could have been the end of Manali’s story; sold into sexual and household bonded labor, disappearing from view forever. But thanks to her experiences in the girls’ groups you supported, Manali knew what was happening. She knew what trafficking was, what child marriage meant, and most importantly, how to stop it. She was able to get communication out to the group leaders and her protests, thankfully, were heard. They intervened, got to her to safety, and both her father and the stranger fled to avoid prosecution. She didn’t get justice, but at least she was safe.
