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Action Card - May 2008
Trafficking – to be
Silent is to be Unfaithful
Sadana is from a poor family in Meherpur
district in Bangladesh. She never went to school and used to clean
people’s houses. When she was 12 years old, an Indian lady came to
visit, who promised her a better job in India. Her parents were poor,
struggling to feed their family. The opportunity for their daughter to
get a good job abroad was too good to miss. Sadana was also excited by
this prospect, and willingly accompanied the lady to India. “I felt good
that I was going to get a job but I was feeling a bit scared because I
was going to a new place and I wouldn't know anyone. Also, I'm totally
illiterate - I can't read or write - so I couldn't read anything to know
where I was.”
Once in India, Sadana was sold to a house were
she was locked in a small room and given food only once a day. She was
tortured and beaten and forced to sleep with 10-15 men every day. “When
I protested, they tied me with rope and beat me. I thought ‘I'm almost
dead’. I wanted to die. I used to do all the housework at the house and
sometimes I also worked outside, selling pots and pans. But at night I
had to do work that was very bad and give company to the men who came.”
Eventually, Sadana managed to escape and
returned to her village, but her life had been changed for ever. "Even
now, some villagers still say bad things in front of me. They don't even
bother to say it behind my back. 'This is a bad woman, she went to
India' is all I hear.” A church outreach project has assisted Sadana by
enabling her to complete a tailoring course and provided a loan to start
her tailoring business. She now works making clothes from her house, and
also assists church workers in their anti-trafficking work. Finally the
villagers are beginning to accept her. Sadana is regaining her dignity
and hope for the future.
Not every story of human trafficking ends as
happily as Sadana’s. We hear of many others from partners in Asia,
Africa and Eastern Europe. The UN has estimated that 700,000 people are
trafficked each year for sexual exploitation. What an indictment on the
world of the early 21st century! Can any Christian remain silent when
such suffering is being inflicted on the poor and vulnerable? It is time
to speak. It is time to act.
Please send a message of solidarity to our
partners in Bangladesh who run the programme which helped Sadana.
John P Biswas (56p stamp + air mail sticker)
Project Manager
Church of Bangladesh
Social Development Programme
Meherpur
Bangladesh
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