As our day drew to a close, we finally met with reps from some of the teams we would be working with throughout our time in Mumbai. Many of them were from Oasis India (I'll write a lot more about them and their amazing work when I write up my Bangalore journal) including one woman we were introduced to called Didi.
This is her story.
This is her story.
(from my trip journal, 18/08/13):
She's an old woman now. Well, maybe not that old. Maybe 50s. She was 11 when she and her sister were trafficked into a brothel. When they were taken to Mumbai she never saw her sister again.
I imagined how it would feel, in that darkest place, to have Gail (my sister) ripped away from me. In a moment: no family. How much that might break a person. And how that's done on purpose.
After four years, a man, a client, promised to rescue her; to take her out of the brothel, to give her a new life.
Imagine the hope, the longing; that chink of light, that she'd given up on.
He married her.
He was a pimp. He beat her.
He owned her for ten years.
She had four children by him.
Didi never imagined having any other life but this. She did not dream of it getting better. No prospects, no dreams, no future. Just abuse day after day until it is normal.
She didn't know of anyone that would help. The idea that there were people who could help guide her out of this poverty and abuse didn't even occur to her.
When Oasis came, tried to help her, tried to take her to the daycare centre, she refused them. She didn't trust them. Why would she? When the last time she had the luxury of trusting anyone? She had been abused for fourteen years. That's half my lifetime.
She was in despair. She turned to drugs of of all kinds. In Mumbai (and we saw this everywhere) the government provides slum houses with free TV and alcohol. These are families who cannot afford to buy food to feed their children, but their government appeases them with free alcohol. Painkillers but no thought of a cure.
Eventually, Didi did go. She got clean, she got out. Oasis helped her volunteer at the daycare centre until eventually she got a job. She has worked with the children of prostituted women for fifteen years now-- she loves kids. After everything, she still has the capacity to love.
She's an old woman now. Well, maybe not that old. Maybe 50s. She was 11 when she and her sister were trafficked into a brothel. When they were taken to Mumbai she never saw her sister again.
I imagined how it would feel, in that darkest place, to have Gail (my sister) ripped away from me. In a moment: no family. How much that might break a person. And how that's done on purpose.
After four years, a man, a client, promised to rescue her; to take her out of the brothel, to give her a new life.
Imagine the hope, the longing; that chink of light, that she'd given up on.
He married her.
He was a pimp. He beat her.
He owned her for ten years.
She had four children by him.
Didi never imagined having any other life but this. She did not dream of it getting better. No prospects, no dreams, no future. Just abuse day after day until it is normal.
She didn't know of anyone that would help. The idea that there were people who could help guide her out of this poverty and abuse didn't even occur to her.
When Oasis came, tried to help her, tried to take her to the daycare centre, she refused them. She didn't trust them. Why would she? When the last time she had the luxury of trusting anyone? She had been abused for fourteen years. That's half my lifetime.
She was in despair. She turned to drugs of of all kinds. In Mumbai (and we saw this everywhere) the government provides slum houses with free TV and alcohol. These are families who cannot afford to buy food to feed their children, but their government appeases them with free alcohol. Painkillers but no thought of a cure.
Eventually, Didi did go. She got clean, she got out. Oasis helped her volunteer at the daycare centre until eventually she got a job. She has worked with the children of prostituted women for fifteen years now-- she loves kids. After everything, she still has the capacity to love.
"This is what the Lord of heaven's armies says: 'judge fairly and show mercy and kindness to one another. do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners and the poor. And do not scheme against each other."
-Zecheriah 7:9-10