Victims Voices: Anjali

Anjali received assistance through the NGO 'Shakti Samuha' in Nepal

Anjali is one of nine children born to a poor farming family in Nepal. When she was 11 years old, a family friend offered to educate her in exchange for working in her home. Little did Anjali know that the price of her schooling would be domestic servitude. She worked long hours caring for the entire house.

After two years, Anjali ran away and returned home. When an Indian circus master came to her village, he persuaded Anjali and several other children to join his circus troupe. Anjali signed a ten-year contract and soon found herself far from home in India, where she was forced to perform grueling, dangerous work for no pay and very little food. Six years later, a British charity helped her escape the circus and return to Nepal.

Shakti Samuha, a Nepalese NGO that helps trafficking survivors rebuild their lives, invited Anjali to learn about human trafficking and to help other survivors. "At first I was blind, I didn't know about myself, my rights, my society," Anjali recalls. "Now I'm providing counseling support to women survivors of trafficking." Today Anjali is 26 years old, and she has plans for her future: "to provide counseling services
and work against human trafficking in my country."

Shakti Samuha provides Nepalese survivors of human trafficking with the necessary care and support needed to reintegrate into society and live independent, healthy lives. It offers comprehensive services - shelter, legal support, education, training and family support - and tailors them to the specific needs of the women, men and children it serves.

Donate to the Victims Trust Fund today and directly help people like Anjali. Visit www.unodc.org/humantraffickingfund to find out how.