Support for Human Trafficking Survivors in India
In 2013, I was invited to go to India with International Princess Project (IPP.) IPP is an organization that works with women who are being reintegrating from human trafficking and need a way to support themselves and their families. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with these beautiful and resilient women and decided to sell crochet products in order to fund my trip.
Being in India absolutely changed my life. I discovered a deep love and calling on my life to work with survivors of human trafficking. I had always though that Human Trafficking was too big of an issue for me to make a difference in. I assumed that I did not have the education, skill set or even physical attributes of someone who could confront the issue. While in India, I discovered that I could change a life with something as “small” as teaching hair cuts or sewing.
I discovered that I could change a life with something as “small” as teaching hair cuts or sewing.
One day, my team headed out to spend a day playing in the Arabian sea with a group of women and I had brought a small crochet project to work on during the journey. One of the women saw me and with much skill, took over my project. Tears filled my eyes as I watched a woman from across the world, with a story I will never quite comprehend, start to make the same pattern with the same rhythm. Just like my mother, my grandmother, and myself, she understood this ancient magic that women all over the world share.
It was a moment I’ll never forget.
Many of the women had never seen an ocean before. When asked if they were going to go into the water, most shyly declined however, it did not take long before all 70 of them had ventured into the water.
I will never be able to put into words the freedom I felt that day as I splashed and played with these women. Dressed in their nicest saris, they released all inhibition and danced in the waves of their redemption. They celebrated that day as if it were an answer to prayers said in the darkest hours.
