In Calcutta (or rather Kolkata as it's usually spelled nowadays) there are three young women from the US who have each done something extraordinary.  I hope more people can hear about what they've done and gain inspiration from their stories.  Let me start off by noting that Kolkata is not an easy place to live for most people used to life in the US or other Western countries.  The reason for this is that the public services, air quality, general living conditions, and the culture are very different from what most of us in the western part of the world have grown accusto

It is hard to find words for everything I feel and all the wonderful and inspiring things that have happened this week. At the same time, it has sometimes been overwhelming, and some moments have been difficult to bear.  Most of the girls and children that we have been working with for the past few years are thriving – making a success out of lives that they could never have imagined - but there are a few that we have lost, or that in dire peril, and it is hard to come face to face with that reality.  We are doing everything in our power to intervene and help these individuals, and I am grateful to have the chance to try, but working on this issue, in this underworld, there are huge challenges.

I only have a few minutes before we go to a different shelter, so i can't do the last two days justice. i thought, instead, that i would jot down a few notes
-i have spent the last three days at a women's interlink foundation shelter which houses about 100 girls and sends about 50 of them to school, with the rest learning a trade and the younger ones just being young (4,5,6)

Tuesday at one of the Made by Survivors production centers we had a wonderful discussion with the young women about the rights of women around the world. We shared our own experiences as women with them and learned more about how they perceived women in the U.S. We also got to hear about some of the ongoing struggles they experience as women while working towards becoming more independent. They expressed that it is difficult for women in India to find a safe place for their voice while honoring their families, cultures and religions. It is sometimes hard to imagine the violence that occurrs against women around the world, including in the U.S., but we all agreed, there exists a world without this violence and slavery, we just have not gotten there yet. Everyone proposed ideas on how to combat violence against women, and in my opinion, ALL of them are possible. Educate girls and women, Teach girls about the biology of their bodies, Promote sexual health education for all, Give access to better (and more) health care for all. And, to all the Men out there: Join the movement, Speak out against violence against women, Show your children (boys and girls) how to respect and love women, Teach your daughters that they deserve to be treated well, and Give them as best an education as you can.

Greetings from Kolkata!
There has been no greater feeling on this trip than being greeted by sixty perfect and beautiful girls and young women as we enter their home.  A couple hours outside of Kolkata is the Women's Interlink Foundation shelter that provides full time care and housing for almost 100 survivors of sex trafficking and orphans of sex slavery victims.  Four days in a row, we pull into the shelter to a round of applause and squealing girls chanting "Auntie!  Auntie!".  We are met with bear hugs, huge smiles, and whole lot of girls battling to hold hands with their "aunties".

On Monday morning, we began our 2 weeks of programming in Calcutta shelters and red light areas, starting with our very own Destiny girls.  After some very silly and hilarious icebreakers, we joined in a forum discussion about women’s rights,  comparing progress and continuing challenges in the women’s rights movements of each.  We talked about the fact that although the girls all consider America more progressive, we have yet to have a woman president or vice president, whereas India has had two women in the two highest offices.

 The girls felt that the biggest difference between Indian and American women is their confidence.  American women have more
confidence, they unanimously think, because we are allowed to make all kinds of decisions for ourselves – what to wear, where and how long to study, who to marry, where to live, if we work, and in what field.  In India, especially among the poor and in villages, male relatives make all these decisions.  Even Becky has to give her father’s name every time she wants to rent an apartment of get a cellphone or Internet connection.  Obviously, this systemic sexism is a huge factor in human
trafficking.  

Well hi! Haven't been able to blog as we have had veryyy demanding schedules :)

Today we visited 10 of our school sponsored kids who have been placed in Ram Krishna Mission Boarding School.  It was absolutely amazing! The kids looked so good, so happy and healthy and clean, that I almost did not recognize them.  These girls, aged 6-13,  were all born into the Kidderpore red light community of Calcutta.   Their mothers were
trafficked as young girls into brothels, and are still working the streets, kept captive now by a complete lack of other options, and by the extreme stigma hanging like a cloud over the whole district.
 
When the children lived at home, they shared a tiny room in the brothel with their mothers – it was a dangerous situation in the extreme, as there is always the risk that a client would tire of the mother and reach for her young daughter instead.  Our partner agency Apne Aap, which runs a prevention program in Kidderpore, eventually took these 10 girls into the night shelter because they were at especially high risk or had already been exploited.  The Emancipation Network began paying for their schooling three years ago and this past spring, they were enrolled in the Boarding School.

Hi everyone!
My journey started in Boston, then stoppped in New York. From JFK, we flew 14 hours to Delhi, a flight  on which I got a total of 1 hour sleep. yay. At the airport in Delhi, we had about a two and a half hour wait. The lines are slow moving in any place in India, but staff and other travelers were curious and friedly. We were all so thirsty and bought hug bottles of water (we will be drinking only bottled water while we are here). I went through a Duty Free store which sells designer perfume at about a 20% discount.