Seven Brave Survivors

Then: Nalini* had a hard childhood—her mother would beat her and verbally abuse her regularly. One day, after a particularly hard beating when she was 13, Nalini ran away. She was at her lowest when a nice woman approached her and offered her a job in the film industry. Imagine her horror when she discovered it was not a movie set, but a brothel. Night after night, Nalini was raped by strange men and beaten by her ruthlessly cruel madam. Nalini was trapped in this nightmare for a year and a half until she was finally rescued in 2014.

After her rescue, she bravely showed police where they could find the brothel managers, leading to their arrest and eventual conviction. She told IJM, “We have to get all the girls who are still stuck… we have to get them out. If you help me then I can get them out.”

Today: As for herself, Nalini is now helping others through medical care—her hope is to be a nurse to the poor. Nalini is also married and is looking forward to starting a family!

Rescued in 2013. Today, Kavya works in a garment factory. She was recently married.

After being lured and trapped into a brothel, 16-year-old Naseen was forced to sleep with up to 20 men a day. When she wasn’t being abused, she was subject to terrible beatings by the brothel owner. Naseen endured this viscious violence for one year until one day, IJM and police arrived at the brothel to rescue her.

Supporters like you enabled IJM to walk with Naseen through the difficult path of healing. After many hours of therapy, Naseen began to understand that she was safe, worthy and capable of living a life free of fear.

Rescued in 2011. She lives in an aftercare home where she teaches other survivors how to make jewelry.

Then: Shreshtha*, who was rescued in 2011, was sitting on a train station bench with her two infant daughters when two men approached her and offered her a job—even paying the train tickets of her daughters. Shreeshtha was so touched by their kindness—until they locked her in a brothel.

She was abused there for three years; at one point her daughter was taken to another brothel so the owner could use her as “leverage” against Shreeshtha. She and her daughters were rescued in 2011.

She had a difficult time recovering after her rescue, but IJM walked with her throughout her journey.

Today: Shreshtha owns her own farmland—a huge feat for a woman in India—and her daughters are in boarding school.

Rakhi* was being hidden in a wall of the brothel when IJM and police rescued her in 2014.

A family’s love means everything.

Then: Twenty-year-old Amiyah* was drugged and taken to a brothel where she was forced to sell her body. As the youngest in the brothel, Amiyah was forced to serve the most customers— up to 150 men a week.

Living conditions were horrid in the cramped and dirty brothel. Electricity was unreliable—sometimes leaving the 20 women inside in total darkness. The boarded-up windows didn’t allow any sunlight in and every door was barred so that no one could escape. Finally, one day, a crack in the door gave way to a burst of light. Police entered the brothel and IJM social workers descended on the girls. Amiyah was freed.

After the rescue, Amiyah’s family learned that she was in Mumbai in an aftercare home. She told her parents what had happened to her and they embraced her wholeheartedly. They even encouraged her to testify against the brothel owners.

Today: Amiyah is a happy mother and wife. She stays home with her three children and hopes to model the same care and love that she has received from her own parents. Amiyah says she’s proud of the way her life has moved forward. She’s also proud of her incredibly loving and supportive family.

In 2016, these seven women graduated from Mumbai’s aftercare program, marking a milestone in their journey of healing.

Thanks to faithful and generous supporters like you, they are free from the devastating violence they endured.