From Slave to Entrepreneur
“They beat me up like an animal, I was nothing less than that to my traffickers… My days were long, but the nights, even longer. I barely got any sleep. I had to engage customers whenever I was asked to.” - Poonam*
Poonam’s own uncle and cousin trafficked her from her rural village in Nepal, across
international borders, and into a neighbouring country in South Asia. Enduring horrific “conditioning” into the sex trade and barely 13 years old, Poonam was forced to engage at least 15 customers every day, working in filthy conditions, moving from one brothel to another.
In the fall of 2008, Poonam’s hope came. The Anti Human Trafficking Unit raided several brothels, arresting several suspects including a trafficking kingpin, and rescuing Poonam along with nine other children. Poonam spent two years at an after-care home run by International Justice Mission (IJM). She could not trust anyone for a long time and faced many challenges making friends. Poonam was eventually returned to Nepal, continuing her recovery in a survivor-run shelter.
Now standing strong on her own, Poonam has worked for four years in a well-known global
food chain in Jordan and recently moved to Kuwait to continue her work in the food industry. Procuring her first group of five buffaloes and aiming to stock 20 more, she plans to return to her village in Nepal and start a full-fledged animal husbandry business.
Poonam continues to fight for the rights of survivors, and empower them. Find out how you can partner with FAIR and IJM to help set more victims like Poonam free by visiting the Freedom | Bangladesh special appeal webpage.
To protect survivors, we have used pseudonyms and included photos that do not depict actual victims where appropriate. Consent was gathered for all images.