STORIES FROM THE FIELD

16-year-old Sowmya lived in a remote village in Mandya, South India. After dropping out of education to help her family at home, Sowmya was targeted and groomed by a trafficking gang member. The gang member took Sowmya to Mysuru on the premise of visiting a friend, where she was held captive in an underground brothel run by the illegal trafficking gang. For 6 weeks Sowmya experienced terrible sexual abuse and was exploited by the criminal gang.

Odanadi was alerted to the case on January 11th this year. Sowmya was located by Odanadi’s rescue team and is now safely sheltering at Odanadi where she is receiving therapeutic and legal support. Sowmya now dreams of becoming a fashion designer, wants to restart her studies and undertake Odanadi’s vocational training opportunities. Research shows that almost a quarter of trafficking victims are re-trafficked, which is why access to education, vocational training and employment opportunities are crucial to ensure that no survivor experiences such horrific abuse again.

We are incredibly proud to support our grassroots partner, Odanadi, in their work to rescue and rehabilitate young survivors of human trafficking and are very grateful for Adventure Ashram supporters for their ongoing commitment to this work. You can support our anti-human trafficking projects and charity partners in South India by donating here: https://adventureashram.enthuse.com/pagefefb3#!/ Or text ‘Donate ashram 22’ to 88802.

*To protect her identity, please note Sowmya’s name has been changed and is not pictured.