freed
Bairath
160
Villagers freed from slavery
56
Children educated
06
People tracked down and brought home after being trafficked to a different state
22
Vulnerable people empowered to avoid the slavery trap
The Story of Bairath
It takes an incredible amount of courage for people to free themselves from slavery. Slavery is the only life these people have ever known and even though they’re working 12-14 hours a day, under horrible conditions, demanding money results in physical and mental threats. This slaveholder was really nasty. He told the Bairath community that our V4F frontline workers couldn’t be trusted, he threatened our team, and the villagers. Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, one of the slaveholder’s henchman committed murder then told the officials it was three people from the Bairath community that committed the murder. They were arrested. The Bairath people didn’t know who to trust, but our frontline workers kept showing up for them. The big turning point came when our frontline team worked with a lawyer, found a witness, and submitted a bail application for the three villagers accused of murder. After they were brought home, Bairath had full faith in our frontline team and began taking all the steps necessary to have a life full of justice and freedom.
Village Location:
India
Came to Freedom:
September 2016
Sponsors:
Joanie Kriens, SVCF
The Path to Freedom
01
coming home
During first year Voices4Freedom frontline workers freed 45 children from agriculture work and rescued another 22 who were trafficked to different states. The communities are targets for trafficking because they are vulnerable, the lowest caste, isolated, and uneducated. All it takes is a job offer and they’re nowhere to be found. If the community has any idea of the job site, location, or points of contact our frontline team works with local officials to track down everyone. There were five children in Bairath that had no information. It took a lot of good people coming together, but those five children were included in the 22 brought home after being trafficked out of the area.
opportunity
02
03
land rights
Schools4Freedom students ready for their daily hot lunch.
“We used to be tortured by the slave owners. My child is freed now. We have courage and strength to challenge the problems. I am very thankful to S4F.”
—Laxman
The Schools4Freedom get to remind the elders of what it feels like to hope after a life in slavery.
village sponsors
Joanie Kriens
"I don't feel that I have truly helped make these changes, the people of the villages helped themselves and each other. We support the work. Beautiful work!"
