It’s not unusual for villagers to be taken in by men offering faraway jobs to their sons or marriage to their daughters, only to unwittingly deliver them into slave labor or sex work. EHA fights this by educating villagers against these schemes and also works to rescue children in bondage.

During the pandemic, Suraj was unable to find the daily work he usually did, and he struggled to provide for his family. His sons Kunal, 11, and Mohit, 12, had stopped going to school during COVID-19, and in desperation, Suraj insisted that they get jobs.

They began working at a motorcycle garage, but because they had no skills or work experience, they were paid only 20 rupees (24 cents!) for a 10- to 12-hour workday.

The staff of EHA’s Nyay Kendra (“Justice Hub”) Project discovered the boys’ situation and filed a report. With the help of government officials, the boys were rescued from this untenable employment.

The staff aftercare team did home visits and submitted a home investigation report. They also secured a bank account for the boys and applied to the Child Labor Tracking System for compensation on their behalf. Each boy got 3,000 rupees ($36) in immediate relief, and later also received 25,000 rupees ($300) each.

EHA’s team advised the father to send them back to school. They also helped Suraj apply for work with the Bihar construction project, so he can now support his family.

The Justice Hub Project, aka Nyay Kendra, was begun to fight human trafficking. Working out of Duncan Hospital in cooperation with the public justice system and non-governmental organizations, the Justice Hub works to combat trafficking, provide services for victims, and increase public access to justice and social welfare programs.

Their goals are fourfold:

• Rescue victims of all kinds of trafficking
• Provide survivors with housing, medical care, counseling, education, and government benefits
• Raise community awareness on prevention and aftercare
• Meet with government officials and law enforcement to improve protocols for prosecuting perpetrators, providing aftercare and rehabilitation for survivors, and applying for government benefits.

In the past six months, the team has conducted four interventions to rescue 30 victims total from commercial sexual exploitation (2), bonded labor (20), and child labor (8). They have also cared for 32 survivors by providing housing, counseling, and medical support, and by seeking government benefits for the victims (between $36 and $300) from different grants. The team conducted four community awareness sessions in the last six months to teach about legal rights and the prevention of human trafficking. And they also held 20 advocacy meetings with key public stakeholders within government and law enforcement.

As a result of these meetings, for example, Mona and Laxmi, sexual trauma survivors, saw successful convictions and sentencing to 20 years in prison for the four people who exploited them. The two young women also received $6,000 each in victim compensation from the court.

Read below for another rescue story from the Justice Hub.

Bala was employed as a daily wage worker in a Kerela factory, but when the pandemic hit, the company shut down and he lost his job. When he returned home to his family, there was no income and no food.

So Bala’s 12-year-old son, Chetan, got a job 34 miles from home working at a sweet shop. Since he lived and worked in the shop, he put in long days from 7 am to 8 pm. His monthly wage for these grueling hours was just $36.

When the Justice Hub team came to the area, they found Chetan and four other children in need of rescue and advocacy. Working with the labor department, the team rescued all five of them and took them to a children’s home. Chetan was reunited with his family, the team applied for government benefits for him, and he was admitted to the government middle school. But when it was determined that the education provided by that school was of very low quality, the team helped Chetan enroll in the Harijan Middle School instead. He is now living at his new school and excelling academically. Chetan is very happy and grateful for his new life, thanks to EHA’s Justice Hub.

~ by Sophia MacLean, Wheaton College Medical Intern at Duncan Hospital

It is impressive how EHA’s community health and development projects are able to practically love the people in nearby villages and work towards social restoration and healing. For example, the Invisible Girls project of Duncan Hospital works against the abuse of young girls. In the traditional culture of Bihar, girl children are less valued than boy children.

Many girls are not enrolled in school and are expected to stay home to do housework. Doctors have told stories of parents refusing medical treatment for their daughter while paying for the care of their son.

The Invisible Girls Project aims to identify young girls who are vulnerable to human trafficking, child labor, or neglect. They rescue these girls and rehabilitate them through counseling and enrollment in school. Currently there are three young girls who were rescued by this project and are now enrolled in Duncan Academy, a school on the hospital’s campus. It is impactful to see these girls’ strength and confidence as they talk about their difficult pasts.

India’s children face numerous difficulties—poverty, lack of food, lack of education, and excessive labor. EHA teams step in to help in many ways, desiring to come alongside those in need and preserve their dignity. They work hard to identify families and individuals who need assistance.

This may mean that they help parents find better ways to generate income, or they might hold community awareness meetings about the dangers of trafficking, or they might find a way for a girl to continue her schooling. These graphics provide more details on what EHA does. Read the stories below to learn how their efforts rescued several individuals.

This question is what Rubham and her older sister kept hearing. They live with their grandparents and constantly face discrimination based on their gender. None of their relatives want to help or educate them because they are girls, but their grandfather is happily supporting his grandsons.

One relative said to EHA project staff, “Why does a girl need an education? She is already a burden. We have to feed her and look after her, and this is enough. Girls won’t be profitable for the family in the future since they will go live with their husband’s family.”

So Rubham and her sister were deprived of daily necessities and clothing, and their grandfather was pushing them to earn money by going to a city to find work. This would be a dangerous move, as many children in India get caught in forced labor or prostitution.

When EHA’s community program staff heard about Rubham, they decided to support her education through the Invisible Girls sponsorship program. They are also providing both girls with nutritional support. As the staff work for the welfare of poor and marginalized people, they take all necessary steps to protect them in any way they can.

When a four-year-old girl died after being brought in to Duncan Hospital’s ICU, the Inspector General of the Police wanted to know more about her background. What he found was that her father was an alcoholic, and he had picked her up by the feet and twirled her in the air, causing the injuries from which she died. The girl’s sister and mother had previously died from lack of medical care.

But there was an older sister as well. Palak was 7, and community members thought she should be taken out of the hostile situation and placed elsewhere. EHA staff reached out to the Child Welfare Committee, the District Child Protection Unit, and Childline to see what could be done for Palak. These organizations discovered that her father had since mysteriously died, and she was now living with an uncle who rejected outside help and expressed his desire to send Palak to Nepal.

Undeterred, EHA project staff again sought intervention from these organizations and went to meet with Palak’s family. After many counseling attempts and local police intervention, Palak was finally released to live in a local home, and she was registered for school. If Palak had not been rescued, she likely would have missed out on having a healthy childhood and an education, and she might well have become a victim of child abuse.

WARNING: Explicit story content

Five years ago, 17-year-old Mona traveled to Jahanabad to help her pregnant sister with household work. When it was time for her to return home, she boarded a train. During the journey, a woman lured her to another city and sold her to a man named Ishwar. He and his gang raped Mona, and then they brought in customers for her to service. If she refused, they beat her and put drugs in her food to make her more compliant. She refused one time too many, and they cut off her hand and threatened to kill her if she didn’t cooperate. She was trapped.

Then a Justice Ventures India informant found out about Mona and shared the information with Duncan Hospital staff. After verifying the situation, Duncan staff formed a plan with the police. A team of officers rescued Mona and arrested Ishwar and others. Now that Mona’s terrifying ordeal is over, she has a chance to start a new life. Unfortunately, stories like this happen all over India, and rescuing victims and helping them heal takes significant effort from those who care. EHA staff are willing to get involved and do what it takes to rescue victims of trafficking.