As Our Own

I am still raising money for As Our Own. I am competing in an Olympic distance triathlon in their honor.

The picture and story below are from their website. It explains the wonderful work that they do in India.

Most of our girls have been rescued from the certainty of second-generation sex slavery. Their mothers are the ones who are enslaved in brothels-they are the ones with horrific stories of abduction into the trade and daily abuse thereafter.

This is true for Prema’s mom.

Her story starts when her childhood ended, when she was just 11 years old.

It happened one day after school, when she and a friend went to a roadside food vendor for a snack, as was typical for many children in the area. These two precious girls had no idea that they had been targeted. Their snacks were laced with drugs, causing them to become delirious. As they stumbled about, their predators watched and waited for them to collapse.

Three days later, the drugs Prema’s mom was given wore off. She awoke a prisoner in a brothel. She endured the horrific torture and repeated sexual exploitation that constitutes the sick initiation of a new sex slave.

In time, Prema’s mom discovered that she had been relocated some 3,000 miles across India-the same distance it would be from New York to Los Angeles. She now lived in a large city with people who spoke a different language, held captive by heartless and cruel men. She had no hope of escape and no ability to figure out how to return home again if she tried. Her captors told her she had to work off her debt. Their threats, intimidation, and torture made it clear there was no way out. Her options were to stay and work... or try to leave and be killed.

In time, little Prema was born there in the red-light district. This new mom had no way of getting her newborn baby out of the darkness that sought to ensnare the child. Brothel owners had their eye on Prema from the day she was born. The men came regularly to apply pressure for the child’s life-first with monetary offers, then with coercion.

Prema’s mom was terrified for both their lives. She didn’t know who to trust or what to do.

As Our Own staff heard about this treacherous situation and connected with Prema’s mom, but her trust wasn’t easily won. It took many meetings to prove that we had Prema’s best interests in mind. Prema’s mom knew, however, that she had no option: Prema could have a life with us, or she could have a horrific existence enslaved in the red-light district.

Prema came into our family and received all the love, care, protection, education, and training that every child needs. Prema’s mom sees this and now connects us to other children in danger of being sold to the brothel owners. She is now an inside advocate for As Our Own.

Prema’s mom is an unlikely advocate for hope, considering all she’s endured since the day her childhood was stolen from her. But that’s what makes her witness all the more powerful.