Kalpana’s Rescue and Recovery
Sold into Slavery
Kalpana* is originally from Nepal. Her family was very poor and she was one of seven children (five daughters and two sons). One day, a girl staying in a neighboring house offered to help Kalpana find a good job so that she could help her family rather than be a burden to them. Kalpana eagerly accepted the offer and wanted to go to tell her parents the good news. The girl convinced her that she should come see the work before getting her parents excited about it, to make sure it was something she would like.
Kalpana accompanied the girl to Pune, without telling her parents where she was going. When she arrived, she discovered that the other girl had lured her there under false pretenses and she was sold to a brothel owner. At the brothel, Kalpana was imprisoned and forced to work as a prostitute.
Rescue and Recovery
Eight months later, Rescue Foundation, founded by World of Children Honoree Triveni Acharya, partnered with the Social Security Department’s Crime Branch to conduct a raid on the brothel where Kalpana was being kept. Kalpana was entrusted to the care of the Rescue Foundation for rehabilitative care.
At the Rescue Foundation home, she received appropriate medical and psychological treatment and then an opportunity to resume her education and begin vocational training.
Kalpana’s parents were notified of her rescue and within a month, they came to Rescue Foundation to ask her to return home. She has suspicions that her parents were employed by a brothel and, after the horror she experienced, she wanted nothing to do with that world. Instead, she chose to remain with the Rescue Foundation and rebuild a new life for herself.
A Bright Future
She has now been with the Rescue Foundation for over five years and has completed courses in cosmetology and tailoring, as well as literacy courses and trained in karate. She was interested in furthering her education beyond what the Rescue Foundation provided so they helped her enroll in school. She has completed her tenth standard exams and is pursuing a nursing degree.
Kalpana has tasted more bitterness in her life than any girl deserves to experience, but she rarely refers to her past. She attends college each day with her friends and expresses excitement and, thanks to the Rescue Foundation’s intervention and support, great hope for her future.
Learn more about Triveni Acharya and the Rescue Foundation >>
This story was originally posted as part of our January 2016 Child Protection Blog Carnival. Read more posts from the Blog Carnival here >>
*Name changed to protect identity