Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Fighting Sex Trafficking: A Project Partner call with our Volunteers




Image taken from The India phile

Our Volunteers participated in a call with our project partner today with Dr. Ajeet who started "Guria" and efforts to fight sexual exploitation of girls forced into prostitution and trafficking in India. Dr Ajeet was on his way back from speaking at Princeton and as soon as he spoke, you could hear the passion in his voice. He is inspiring person and someone who started this journey when he was only 17 years old.

At 17, Dr. Ajeet decided to take in and adopt children. He has been risking his life to help them ever since. Some of what he shared was that our organization, CRY, supported the efforts when they first got started and when no one else seemed to care. Because of this, he has an emotional connection with us. He also mentioned that he and his staff are targets and that their lives are often at risk. One of his staff members was attacked just a few months ago. He said that they confront corruption and work all angles to rehabilitate and protect the girls. They take criminal cases all the way up to the supreme court, they hide girls and their families to protect them and they are hated by those that are involved in these criminal acts.

It left a strong impression when he spoke of fear and how he gets the strength to continue. He said he is not afraid and that real strength comes from within and that the process makes him connect to his purpose in life which is to serve unconditionally. He also said that he's happy that people are talking about the issue of sex trafficking now, that they have built relationships with the U.S. government, the UN and he's glad that the advocacy component is so strong now. He shared that CRY gave them the strength to grow. They have now rehabilitated and rescued over 800 girls and have brought criminal cases against over 1,000 sex traffickers. Their work has also played a large role in influencing the government in India to not give bail to sex traffickers in prison, to be key players in sting operations and more.

The call made me very proud to be a part of our organization at CRY America​ who supports ground efforts making real change in the lives of children who need it the most. Our volunteers have helped over 600,558 children through their efforts and this is one of the projects that hard work goes to. I can only hope that those that were on the call and that read this blog know that every event planned, every time they speak of our organization, every call and donor gained is part of a ripple effect to helps someone as courageous as Dr. Ajeet.
        Dr. Ajeet and his family with CRYAmerica's Fundraising Manager, Patrick Bocco and CEO, Shefali Sunderlal

Written by Sol Garcia
CRY America Volunteer Manager
volunteers@cryamerica.org

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