Helped rescue and care for over 250 children in slavery through Free The Slaves
Needed: $5,000
Given: $8,144
Location: Uttar Pradesh, North India
Free the Slaves works with locally based organization Bal Vikas Ashram (BVA) to rescue and rehabilitate children in slavery and stop the trafficking from home villages. BVA runs a rehabilitation center for children who have been enslaved in the carpet industry, brick kilns and stone quarries in Uttar Pradesh, north India. Most of these children have been trafficked hundreds of miles from desperately poor home villages in the state of Bihar.
When local volunteers or BVA staff learn about children held in slavery, they pressurize local police to join in a raid to rescue the children. Also, BVA trains transport police and railway porters to report on women and children who may be in transit to slavery. In 2007, BVA rescued 278 children. With these additional funds, BVA was able to increase the number of women and children rescued and the number of villages supported to end trafficking.