Imagine you have just been rescued from a life of sexual and physical abuse. Your feeling of desperation slowly disappears as you begin to feel safe and trust those caring for you. Eventually you become full of hopes and dreams for the future. This is the reality for survivors of human trafficking we work with at Made By Survivors.
- Safe living arrangements
- Regular appointments or group therapy with a mental health therapist
- Providing opportunities and space for survivors to process things that happened to them
- Physical and dental exams and corrective surgeries and procedures to heal
- Formal education in reading, writing, and math
- Vocational training
- A job with a fair wage
- Financially supporting aftercare and rescue endeavors of our partners,
- Educating children living in red light districts and children who were enslaved or parents are slaves
- Building shelters, schools, and orphanages
- Training survivors in jobs that provide wages well above average
- Employing survivors as artisan goldsmiths and designers at 3 centers in India
- Supporting survivor based businesses in India, Nepal, Cambodia, and Thailand
In Northern India, Made By Survivors is supporting the aftercare for 30 girls who have recently been rescued from sex and labor trafficking in partnership with a local agency, Women's Interlink Foundation. The girls are ages seven through early 20s. In 2013, Made By Survivors will build permanent housing and an employment center for these girls and 70 more. The project will be in Jalpaiguri, Northern India, a high trafficking area near the borders of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. The survivors there will benefit from secure housing, nourishment and medical care, trauma therapy including art therapy, formal education, vocational and business training, and employment with wages well above average.
"I visited the site of this project in March and go to know 30 of the 100 girls that will live in the new shelter. Many were very recently rescued and the trauma was some of the worst I have seen. Despite that there was a spark of hope and such huge potential in each girl. In their young lives they have experienced so much suffering - beyond my ability to even express. Now they deserve to be safe and loved and to be able to create a beautiful future. I feel we have to give them that. Please help." - Sarah Symons, Made By Survivors Founder and Executive Director
Made By Survivors is honored to be a part of Huffington Post, Skoll Foundation, Half The Sky Movement, and Crowdrise's RaiseForWomen Challenge. They have brought together amazing nonprofits to raise over $75,000 to empower women worldwide. Please be a part of transforming lives by women and girls by donating to our RaiseForWomen Challenge project Build a Home and Secure a Future for 100 Survivors of Human Trafficking in Northern India which will build the permanent shelter, provide aftercare services, send the children to school, and train and employ the teens and adults.