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When Damru and Hemanthi first became pregnant, they were thrilled. But three months after their daughter was born, she ran a high fever. With no medical facility nearby, they had to wait until the morning to be transported to a doctor 20 kilometres away.
An hour after they arrived, their little girl died.
Hemanthi became pregnant again but this time, their baby boy only lived for a matter of minutes. The word “grief” hardly begins to explain the pain Hemanthi and Damru felt.
Crushed but determined to start a family, Damru borrowed money from relatives to begin construction on a new home. When Hemanthi became pregnant a third time, they were overjoyed but cautious. After the construction on their home was completed, they welcomed a sweet little boy named Durga into the world.
Despite their joy, they still needed enough income to pay back the lenders, so the small family decided to find work.
A local recruiter offered well-paying jobs at a poultry farm 1,000 kilometres away. They soon realised the job was a lie.
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The “recruiter” was a human trafficker.
They were immediately put to work scrubbing bird droppings from the floors and walls. The farm owner vaguely promised to build their living quarters later.
While Damru and Hemanthi were feeding, watering and disinfecting 6,000 chickens on the farm every day, they were constantly worried about their son. With toxic chemicals surrounding them, little Durga regularly suffered from diarrhea, colds, coughs and skin allergies.
When it came time for bed, the family slept in a run-down barn with thousands of chickens. They arranged plastic sacks to keep from sleeping on the wet, rotten ground.
Hemanthi remembers, “Snakes and scorpions used to enter the shed and at night, I used to put my son in between sacks of chicken feed to protect him from getting bitten by them. Every night we used to go to sleep not knowing if we will wake up the next morning.”
After two months of harsh conditions and no pay, they witnessed the owner violently beat another labourer at the farm. They were terrified.
Because of you, the race to rescue was on.
One day Damru learned his mother was seriously ill and pleaded with the owner of the farm for his family to see her. Hemanthi and Durga were allowed to visit, but Damru decided to bravely stay behind so that his family could be free.
“We had decided that Hemanthi would stay [at their home in Odisha] and not return. I did not know what the owner would do with me, but I gave her our mobile phone and asked her to get back to the village and keep our son safe,” said Damru.
At a train station, two IJM informants trained to spot signs of trafficking saw Hemanthi and noticed how distraught she appeared. They found out about her enslavement, and government officials were immediately called.
The race to rescue Damru was on.
Hemanthi managed to reach him on a mobile phone and told him about the plan to rescue him and reunite their family, but in his mind he only imagined two or three men would arrive for the rescue.
He says, “…I was awestruck at what I saw. Three vehicles full of people reached the farm. There were so many of them! I cannot forget that moment.”
This is what your gifts make possible.
Today, Damru and Hemanthi are living in their new home free from slavery. They are working at a local farm and little Durga is going to pre-school. They are free to raise their child in peace. Free to live a joyful life.
There are still over 40 million people living in slavery. Make a donation today to send rescue and restoration to more families like Damru and Hemanthi’s!
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